A new study in the August issue of Health Affairs found that increased public health investments at the local level can produce measurable health improvements.
The study, performed by researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, analyzed changes in spending patterns and mortality rates within the service areas of nearly 3,000 local public health agencies between 1993 and 2005.
To measure spending, the authors used information from the National Association of County and City Health Officials and other sources. They looked at county-level infant mortality rates and age-adjusted mortality rates for heart disease, cancer, diabetes and influenza, all measures expected to be sensitive to public health interventions.
They found that between 1993 and 2005, public health spending increased among 65 percent of local public health agencies, by an average of $6.16 per person, for a total of $40.84 per person in 2005. In communities that increased public health spending by 10 percent, mortality levels declined measurably: infant mortality rate declined 6.85 percent; heart disease deaths per 100,000 population declined 3.22 percent; and deaths from diabetes and cancer declined 1.44 percent and 1.13 percent respectively.
"Our results suggest that additional spending, such as the $15 billion in new federal funds authorized under the Affordable Care Act's Prevention and Public Health Fund, would be expected to generate substantial improvements in population health over time," the authors wrote. "By measuring spending levels in specific programmatic areas such as tobacco control, nutrition and physical activity, it may be possible to identify more precise relationships between investments and health outcomes."
Read the study online at http://www.healthaffairs.org/alert_link.php?url=http://content.healthaff....
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