Leader: Guglielmo Weber; Other collaborator(s): Martina Celidoni (UNIPD), Nita Handastya (UNIPD), Nancy Zambon (UNIPD), Lorenzo Cavallin (UNIPD)
In this task, we are going to use life history micro data at a multinational level to estimate the causal effects of public policies affecting individuals over the life course on their physical and mental health in old age. The data will mostly be drawn from SHARE – we shall link it to contextual information at the country (or region) level on public interventions in the areas of education, income support, access to health care, disability and old age.
Brief description of the activities and of the intermediate results
Evidence on organized screening programs and their effects in Europe from the health economics literature: Intermediate report that describes information regarding key aspects of breast cancer screening programs implemented in Europe since the 80s, and link of this institutional database on breast cancer screening programs with SHARE data.
Main policy, industrial and scientific implications
Preliminary estimates will be presented during the General Meeting Age-It (Venice, Ca’ Foscari University 20-22 May 2024)
We are working on «the identification of vulnerable and at risk of frailty persons in the various stages of life, as well as studies on the causal pathways that generate unhealthy ageing” with a focus on “the role of individual socioeconomic status and contextual factors and public policies on healthy and unhealthy ageing”.
So far the research topics are:
1) Cancer screening programs and their effects in Europe: Evidence from SHARE data. We estimate the causal effect of years of regular breast cancer screening over the life course on breast cancer detection and mortality.
M. Celidoni, G. Weber, N. Handastya, N. Zambon. Cancer screening programs and their effects in Europe: Evidence from SHARE data. General Meeting Age-It, Venice, May 20-22, 2024
The article relating to the work presented at the AGE-IT General Meeting is being drafted. We have started the research on the topic “Determinants of vaccine hesitancy among 50+ Europeans: The role of online health information seeking status: preliminary results”
Drafting the paper on the role of digital literacy on vaccine hesitancy among 50+ Europeans.
Advancements of the empirical analysis on the project about ‘Cancer screening programmes and their effects in Europe:Evidence from SHARE data’.
We drafted the paper on the Organized Breast Cancer Screening Programs Project
We are working on the effect of energy poverty on health
We drafted the paper Childhood deprivations and old age health outcomes in post-socialist Baltic states
We submitted the paper Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Uptake and Digital Literacy Evidence from the European countries (authors: Celidoni, Handastya, Weber, Zambon).
We complemented the analysis on the effect of Organized Breast Cancer Screening Programs on take-up behaviour with evidence on unequal access to care in Europe using retrospective data from SHARELIFE.
We finalized the draft of the paper on Energy Poverty and Health, where we estimate the effect of energy poverty on a range of subjective and objective health outcomes late in life using microdata from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to provide policy insights on the need for targeted financial support to reduce self-imposed restrictions on heating, thus mitigating the adverse health effects and inequalities associated with energy poverty.
We have worked on two projects:
producing preliminary estimates.
BAC: SHARELIFE imputations in progress.
Published:
C. Dal Bianco, G. Weber, and N. Zambon. “From Retirement to the Pandemic: Unveiling the Impact of Key Life Events Using SHARE Data.” Scientific Meeting of the Italian Statistical Society. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2025.
Under review:
M. Celidoni, N. Handastya, G. Weber and N. Zambon. “Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Uptake and Digital Literacy Evidence from the European countries.” Under review: Economics and Human Biology
Conferences: