Biological Health Risks and Economic Development / Elizabeth Frankenberg, Jessica Y. Ho, Duncan Thomas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Frankenberg, Elizabeth.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Ho, Jessica Y.

Thomas, Duncan.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w21277.

NBER working paper series no. w21277

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2015.

Summary:

With populations aging and the epidemic of obesity spreading across the globe, global health risks are shifting toward non-communicable diseases. Innovative biomarker data from recently conducted population-representative surveys in lower, middle and higher income countries are used to describe how four key biological health risks - hypertension, cholesterol, glucose and inflammation - vary with economic development and, within each country, with age, gender and education. As obesity rises in lower income countries, the burden of non-communicable diseases will rise in roughly predictable ways and the costs to society are potentially very large. Investigations that explain cross-country differences in these relationships will have a major impact on advancing understanding of the complex interplay between biology, health and development.

Notes:

Print version record

June 2015.