Socioeconomic inequalities in insulin initiation among individuals with type 2 diabetes – A quasi-experimental nationwide register study

ABSTRACT:

Background

Inequalities in access to care can translate to or strengthen existing inequalities in health if people of lower socioeconomic positions do not have equal access to care. I study insulin initiation among individuals with type 2 diabetes and examine whether a reform increasing the co-payment of non-insulin antidiabetics in Finland in 2017 had an inequitable effect on the initiation. In the treatment of type 2 diabetes, insulin is recommended only in later stages and remains covered by the National Health Insurance at a rate of 100%.

Data and methods

I evaluated the effect of the reform with Cox proportional hazard modelling using nationwide person-level register data from 2011 to 2019. Exploiting a quasi-experimental design rising from the introduction of the re

SUBMITTER: Ratto H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9399379 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature