Does health information affect lifestyle behaviours? The impact of a diabetes diagnosis

Alessio Gaggero, Joan Gil, Dolores Jiménez-Rubio and Eugenio Zucchelli
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Dolores Jiménez Rubio

Social Science & Medicine, 2022, vol. 314, issue C

Abstract: Despite an increasing interest in the effect of health information on health-behaviours, evidence on the causal impact of a diagnosis on lifestyle factors is still mixed and does not often account for long-term effects. We explore the role of health information in individual health-related decisions by identifying the causal impact of a type-2 diabetes diagnosis on body mass index (BMI) and lifestyle behaviours. We employ a fuzzy regression discontinuity design (RDD) exploiting the exogenous cut-off value in the diagnosis of type-2 diabetes provided by a biomarker (glycated haemoglobin) drawn from unique administrative longitudinal data from Spain. We find that following a type-2 diabetes diagnosis individuals appear to reduce their weight in the short-term. Differently from previous studies, we also provide evidence of statistically significant long-term impacts of a type-2 diabetes diagnosis on BMI up to three years from the diagnosis. We do not find perceivable effects of a type-2 diabetes diagnosis on quitting smoking or drinking. Overall, health information appears to have a sustained causal impact on weight reduction, a key lifestyle and risk factor among individuals with type-2 diabetes.

Keywords: Diabetes; Health information; Lifestyle behaviours; Body mass index; Regression discontinuity design; Administrative data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 I10 I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953622007262
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:314:y:2022:i:c:s0277953622007262

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115420

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().