ESRI Research Seminar: 'Ageing and the Balance of Care'.

Venue: ESRI, Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2

Date: 20/10/2011
Time: 4 pm

Speaker: Maev-Ann Wren, Trinity College Dublin.

The role played by population ageing in determining health spending or utilisation remains a topic of debate. This seminar will discuss the Irish and international literature on the effect of ageing in health; and present the results of an empirical, econometric study of the determinants of acute bed and long-term care utilisation across countries.

Econometric analysis employing panel data methods finds that across 17 OECD countries over the years 1985-2006 death was an upward driver of acute bed utilisation. Age represented by the percentage of population aged 65 and over was an upward driver of acute bed utilisation in the 1980s but, as the age share of population increased and life expectancies converged, age became insignificant to or a downward driver of acute bed utilisation. Analysis employing this panel and a smaller panel of countries, for which long-term care (LTC) utilisation data were available, finds that female labour force participation has been a significant downward driver of acute bed utilisation for most of the countries in the panel and an upward driver of LTC utilisation.

This evidence suggests that as population age has increased and female labour force participation has risen, these combined factors have driven increased LTC utilisation, which in turn has facilitated reduced acute bed utilisation.

No booking required. All welcome.