Addressing Health Disparities in Chronic Kidney Disease

Ta-Chien Chan, I.-Chun Fan, Michael Shi-Yung Liu, Ming-Daw Su and Po-Huang Chiang
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Ta-Chien Chan: Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei City 115, Taiwan
I.-Chun Fan: Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei City 115, Taiwan
Michael Shi-Yung Liu: Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei City 115, Taiwan
Ming-Daw Su: Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei City 106, Taiwan
Po-Huang Chiang: Institute of Population Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli County 350, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-18

Abstract: According to the official health statistics, Taiwan has the highest prevalence of end stage renal disease (ESRD) in the world. Each year, around 60,000 ESRD patients in Taiwan consume 6% of the national insurance budget for dialysis treatment. The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been climbing during 2008–2012. However, the spatial disparities and clustering of CKD at the public health level have rarely been discussed. The aims of this study are to explore the possible population level risk factors and identify any clusters of CKD, using the national health insurance database. The results show that the ESRD prevalence in females is higher than that in males. ESRD medical expenditure constitutes 87% of total CKD medical expenditure. Pre-CKD and pre-ESRD disease management might slow the progression from CKD to ESRD. After applying ordinary least-squares regression, the percentages of high education status and the elderly in the townships are positively correlated with CKD prevalence. Geographically weighted regression and Local Moran’s I are used for identifying the clusters in southern Taiwan. The findings can be important evidence for earlier and targeted community interventions and reducing the health disparities of CKD.

Keywords: chronic kidney disease; health disparity; prevalence; spatial analysis; geographic information systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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