Jaime Pinilla

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Objective: To estimate the impact of a more equitable pharmaceutical co-payment system by eliminating the distinction between active workers and pensioners, using only personal income as an adjustment parameter, defining more detailed income brackets, and introducing protective limits on personal expenditure. Method: Data from a random sample of...

Government employees in Spain are covered by public Mutual Funds that purchase a uniform basket of benefits, equal to the ones served to the general population, from private companies. Companies apply as private bidders for a fixed per capita premium hardly adjusted by age. Our hypothesis is that this premium does not cover risks, and companies hav...

El presente estudio pretende una definición teórica y estimación econométrica de funciones de demanda de servicios turísticos en términos de calidad. Tomando como referencia la Encuesta de Gasto Turístico en Canarias, del año 1998, desarrollamos, desde el lado de la demanda, a través de un enfoque de diferenciación vertical en términos de calidad,...

Objective: To assess differences in acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) in-hospital mortality between referral stroke hospitals and provide evidence on the association of those differences with the overtime adoption of effective reperfusion therapies. Design: Retrospective, longitudinal observational study using administrative data for virtually all ho...

Migrants and refugees try to reach Europe to seek protection and a better life. The responsiveness and stewardship of the European countries health system have an impact on the ability to access healthcare. This study aims to investigate the differential probability of healthcare unmet needs among migrants living in four European countries. We used...

España está entre los países más afectados por la pandemia mundial de coronavirus. Después de experimentar, entre abril y junio de 2020, una de las mayores contracciones entre las economías la Unión Europea, ha encabezado la segunda ola de infecciones. Concluido el año 2020 estamos en mejores condiciones para entender cuál ha sido y será el impacto...

Research question We analyzed two questions. First, the effectiveness of public Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) in Spain compared with private ones, measured by the time since initiating ART treatment until achieving pregnancy, accounting for age and socioeconomic factors. Second, socioeconomic determinants of access to ART, referring prim...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has hit both the Spanish economy and the population's health hard. The result is an unprecedented economic and social crisis due to uncertainty about the remedy and the socioeconomic effects on people's lives. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of the macroeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the Spanish economy hard. The result is an unprecedented economic and social crisis due to uncertainty about the remedy, and due to the socio-economic effects on people’s lives. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of the macro-economic impact of COVID-19 in 2020, using the principal indicators of...

The interrupted time series analysis is a quasi-experimental design used to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention. Segmented linear regression models have been the most used models to carry out this analysis. However, they assume a linear trend that may not be appropriate in many situations. In this paper, we show how generalized additive m...

Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes related to the quantity of sugar have appeared as a popular regulatory tool around the world during the last decade showing important variations in their implementation and impact. We evaluated the impact of a new SSB tax implemented in Catalonia since May 1, 2017 on the purchased quantities and penetration rate...

Research Question: We analyzed two questions. First, the effectiveness of public Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) in Spain compared with private ones, measured by the time since initiating ART treatment until achieving pregnancy, accounting for age and socioeconomic factors. Second, socioeconomic determinants of access to ART, referring pri...

Objective We address the hypothesis that the extraordinary sandstorm occurred on 22-24 February 2020 might have a role in the different cumulated incidence of COVID-19 cases between the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, since it obliged to reduce significantly air traffic and forced to suspend all major carnival street events in all most locati...

This study estimated the impact of reducing a capped low coinsurance rate for outpatient medicines to nil for low-income pensioners and disabled individuals in the Valencian Community (Spain). This reduction was implemented in January 2016 as a regional reform which modified the national cost-sharing reform adopted in July 2012. The impact of this...

Background: Few studies have quantitatively estimated the income elasticity of demand of voluntary private health insurance (VPHI) in countries with a universal National Health Service. Most studies to date have uses cross-sectional data. Methods: In this paper we used a longitudinal database from the Bank of Spain to analyse the financial behav...

Background: Horizontal equity in access to public general practitioner (GP) services by socioeconomic group has been addressed econometrically by testing the statement "equal probability of using public GP services for equal health care needs, regardless of socioeconomic status". Based on survey data, the conventional approach has been to estimate...

Background: The objective of this research is to analyse trends in horizontal inequity in access to public health services by immigration condition in Spain throughout the period 2006-2017. We focus on "economic immigrants" because they are potentially the most vulnerable group amongst immigrants. Methods: Based on the National Health Surveys of...

Background Mental health disorders are highly prevalent across countries. They increase over time and impose a severe burden on individuals and societies. Objective This paper examines the evolution of mental health over a period of 15 years, paying special attention on the impact of the most recent economic downturn and subsequent recovery, in Sp...

Under national health services (NHS), non-urgent access to specialist doctors is not straightforward and sometimes leads to long waiting times. Consequently, some citizens may decide to pay for private specialist care to complement the services provided publicly, trying to shorten their NHS waiting times. This strategic behaviour may lead to inequi...

Objective To compare the differences in the use of healthcare services: visits to the doctor and hospitalisation, performance of routine tests, and preventive influenza vaccination, between users and non-users of homeopathic products. Methods We used the microdata for adults over 15 years old from three waves of the Spanish National Health Survey,...

En los últimos años el consumo de eventos futbolísticos a través de los medios audiovisuales está superando los mercados nacionales para globalizarse. La sostenibilidad económica de los clubes de fútbol depende cada vez más de la difusión masiva en medios audiovisuales y de su capacidad para mantenerse como un producto atractivo, competitivo y soci...

Objective: To measure and assess differences by educational level in the place of death for cancer patients, and to determine whether patterns of geographical disparities are associated with access to palliative care services in the municipality of residence. Method: We analysed the death certificates of adults (older than 24) who died of cancer...

Despite proposed conceptual frameworks of eating behaviors, little is known about environmental factors contributing to changes in food habits. Few studies have reported the external influence of tourism on the inhabitants’ eating patterns. The present study aimed to investigate whether tourism pressure affects Canary Islands inhabitants’ adherence...

In January 2006, the Spanish government enacted a tobacco control law that banned smoking in bars and restaurants, with exceptions depending on the floor space of the premises. In January 2011, further legislation in this area was adopted, removing these exceptions. We analyse the effect produced on cigarette sales by these two bans. We approach th...

Objective Newcomb-Benford’s Law (NBL) proposes a regular distribution for first digits, second digits and digit combinations applicable to many different naturally occurring sources of data. Testing deviations from NBL is used in many datasets as a screening tool for identifying data trustworthiness problems. This study aims to compare public avail...

The Bayesian structural time series model, used in conjunction with a state–space model, is a novel means of exploring the causal impact of a policy intervention. It extends the widely used difference–in–differences approach to the time series setting and enables several control series to be used to construct the counterfactual. This paper highligh...

Background In Spain, the Law 28/2005, which came into effect on January 2006, was a turning point in smoking regulation and prevention, serving as a guarantee for the progress of future strategies in the direction marked by international organizations. It is expected that this regulatory policy should benefit relatively more to lower socioeconomic...

Abstract Background Social health inequalities in adult population are partly due to socioeconomic circumstances in childhood. A better understanding of how those circumstances affect health during adulthood may improve the opportunities for reducing health disparities. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of parental socioecono...

This article provides a critical review about the challenges that taxes on sugary drinks as an instrument of health policy must face to reverse the trend of the current epidemics of obesity. We analyzed the experiences of the leading countries, particularly Mexico, and reflect on the counterweight exerted by the industry against obesity policies, a...

Objective: To test the hypothesis that leadership and management skills protect dental practices against the effects of an economic recession. Methods: This was a cross-sectional exploratory study. Dentists (n=232) were randomly selected to participate in an online survey in which they were asked about their practice activity. Results: A total of 1...

IntroductionAdult oral health is predicted by oral health in childhood. Prevention improves oral health in childhood and, consequently in adulthood, so substantial cost savings can be derived from prevention. The burden of oral disease is particularly high for disadvantaged and poor population groups in both developing and developed countries. Ther...

The potential of smoke-free bans to negatively impact the hospitality business has been an argument of the hospitality and tobacco industry against such legislation. A partial smoke-free legislation was introduced in Spain in 2006 allowing smoking in most bars and restaurants due to the pressure of the hospitality sector. However, this partial ban...

Objective to analyze the impact of Spanish smoke-free legislation (Law 42/2010) on the business activity of bars, cafés, and restaurants. Methods we used the micro-data from the Household Budget Survey for 2010 and 2011. The linking files allowed close follow-up of the households that remained in the sample for 2 consecutive years. Taking the year...

to analyze the impact of Spanish smoke-free legislation (Law 42/2010) on the business activity of bars, cafés, and restaurants.

The aim of this paper is to analyse whether there is equity in the access to public health care services by socioeconomic groups. The probability of utilisation of health care services and the respective waiting times are jointly analysed, correcting for the selection bias that would arise if they were analysed separately, as shown in this research...

In countries with publicly financed health care systems, waiting time-rather than price-is the rationing mechanism for access to health care services. The normative statement underlying such a rationing device is that patients should wait according to need and irrespective of socioeconomic status or other non-need characteristics. The aim of this p...

. Lainexistencia de un sistema de numerus clausus eficaz, junto con elescaso control de las admisiones en las universidades privadas, sonla causadeesteincrementocontinuoenlosodontologosegresados,un 9% de media anual entre 2000 y 2009. El aumento del numerode dentistas es muy superior al de la poblacion general, por lo queel numeradoraumentamasqueeld...

The paradox of health refers to the improvement in objective measures of health and the increase in the reported prevalence of chronic conditions. The objective of this paper is to test the paradox of health in Catalonia from 1994 to 2006. Longitudinal cross-sectional study using the Catalonia Health Interview Survey of 1994 and 2006. The approach...

Public policy evaluation is not always a mandatory task for administrations. A priori, the instruments for government intervention are chosen and calculated to maximize the social welfare function that should be implicit in the policies undertaken, or in the government's electoral program. However, it is surprising how the government sometimes acts...

To provide a conceptual framework of the relationships between dental health and dental care utilisation with socio-economic factors, human resources and the finance and organisation of dental healthcare systems in European countries from 1990 to 2004. Bivariate relations and longitudinal analysis using time series cross-sectional regression models...

We investigate the main sources of heterogeneity in regional efficiency. We estimate a translog stochastic-frontier production function in the analysis of Spanish regions in the period 1964 – 96, to attempt to measure and explain changes in technical efficiency. Our results confirm that regional inefficiency is significantly and positively correlat...

This paper focuses on eliciting the willingness to pay (WTP) for policy measures aimed at improving the health care offered to patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD). We utilize a discrete choice experiment (DCE) approach for the elicitation of the preferences of the general population for three alternative policies: home care, day care c...

La existencia de desigualdades socioeconómicas en salud está muy documentada, tanto en nuestro país como en otros países, sobre todo europeos. Los análisis han cubierto también las diferencias regionales y de género. Sin embargo, no hay ningún trabajo en España que haya estudiado las desigualdades socioeconómicas en salud por grupos de edad de form...

This article estimates the costs and benefits of changes in ischemic heart disease (IHD) care in Spain from 1980 to 2003. We use joinpoint regression to identify trends in the standardized rates of mortality and hospitalization for IHD in general and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in particular. We estimate also logistic regression models for th...

The aim of this paper is to analyse if there is horizontal equity in the utilisation of public health care services by región (comunidad autónoma) of residence in Spain. Data from the 2006 National Health Survey were considered to undertake a multilevel analysis, using a binary logistic function for each of the public health care services analysed...

El objetivo de esta investigación consiste en analizar si existe equidad horizontal en la utilización de servicios sanitarios públicos por comunidad autónoma de residencia en España. A partir de la Encuesta Nacional de Salud de 2006, se ha realizado un análisis multinivel, utilizando una función de ajuste logístico binaria para cada uno de los serv...

Objective: To study the learning curve associated with independent practice in coronary artery surgery. Participants: 123 patients undergoing coronary artery surgery for the first time between January 2001 and April 2002, who were operated on by 6 surgeons. Methods: Stochastic frontier cost funtion and an inefficiency model. The analysis of the dat...

Introduction. Healthy time is a valuable good for individuals. Therefore, the longer healthy time lasts, the better. We explore how income and other individual characteristics influence the duration of good health. Our paper constitutes, then, a different way of looking at socioeconomic inequalities in health, using a duration model. Our paper is a...

. El objetivo del estudio fue estimar los pesos de calidad de vida (PCV) para Espa�a, para los a�os 1987, 1993 y 2001, a partir del estado de salud autopercibido declarado en la Encuesta Nacional de Salud y mediante un modelo probit ordenado. Los resultados muestran que los PCV difieren seg�n las enfermedades cr�nicas. Las enfermedades en los �ltim...

To evaluate the long term impact on fairness of children's dental care programmes. Data were taken from the Health Module of the Spanish Disability Interview Survey in 1999 (n=8,049). The probability of visit to a dentist and the number of visits are estimated with binary logistic models and count data models in order to compare the regions with co...

To estimate quality of life weights in Spain for 1987, 1993 and 2001, based on self-assessed health status reported in the National Health Survey. Quality of life weights were estimated using an ordered probit model. In this model, self-assessed health status was related to the presence of chronic diseases, demographic characteristics, and a random...

OBJECTIVE: The present article reviews the recent literature on various issues related to medical devices in Spain, Europe and global market in general. This evidence allows us to analyze the Spanish situation, and to propose recommendations about health policy that look for improvements in efficiency and social welfare. METHODS: Information obtain...

This paper describes the causes that generate the relatively high – among comparable OECD countries – prevalence of tobacco consumption in Spain. It evaluates the current policy interventions geared towards reducing incidence and prevalence. It argues that, despite a recent major breakthrough in legislation on advertising and consumption in public...

The cost of medication errors (MEs), and by extension their impact on the running of hospitals, is generally unknown to hospital managers. This study estimated the financial costs involved in the additional use of hospital resources as a result of MEs. For this we used a database covering 20,014 hospital admissions, with clinical and personal infor...

Objective To analyse the determining of the acquisition and later consolidation of the tobacco consumption in young adolescents.

To analyse the determining of the acquisition and later consolidation of the tobacco consumption in young adolescents. Longitudinal study of three years of duration (2000-2002). Subjects were students of secondary education between 13 and 14 years old at the beginning of the study. The research was performed in Gran Canaria Island with a final samp...

El objetivo del estudio fue estimar los pesos de calidad de vida (PCV) para España, para los años 1987, 1993 y 2001, a partir del estado de salud autopercibido declarado en la Encuesta Nacional de Salud y mediante un modelo probit ordenado. Los resultados muestran que los PCV difieren según las enfermedades crónicas. Las enfermedades en los últimos...

This paper contributes to the empirical knowledge of determinants of smoking initiation in adolescents. The instrument we used was a structural equation model, which is a powerful tool to analyze causal relationships in nonexperimental studies. We used a school-based sample of 1198 teenagers from Spain. We measured the attitude of the adolescents t...

El análisis económico de los servicios de atención bucodental en España ha estado alejado del interés investigador por parte de nuestros economistas de la salud. En muchos aspectos, la atención bucodental ha sido considerada como un servicio sanitario más al cual podían aplicarse los mismos instrumentos analíticos que a otros servicios de la asiste...

In adolescents aged 12-14, we measured attitudes to tobacco advertising. Our purpose is to understand the relation of these attitudes to tobacco use and identify the groups most influenced by the advertising. Survey of adolescents on Gran Canaria Island, Spain, about aspects of family, school, peers, tobacco consumption, and tobacco advertising. Th...

El presente trabajo propone una aproximación empírica novedosa al efecto que el precio de los cigarrillos tiene sobre la consolidación del hábito tabáquico. Se plantean dos enfoques de estimación alternativos. El primero realiza un análisis del comportamiento del adulto joven en el mercado, en lo que respecta a la elección del precio de la marca de...

En este trabajo se analiza cómo el aumento de los impuestos afecta a la demanda de productos derivados del tabaco, en especial a la demanda de cigarrillos. El análisis comparado de los estudios revisados demuestra que las subidas en los impuestos sobre el tabaco se traducen en un aumento de los precios de estos productos. La elasticidad precio de l...

This paper analyzes the extent to which an increase in tobacco taxes affects the demand for tobacco products, especially for cigarettes. Comparison of the studies reviewed revealed that higher tobacco taxes result in higher tobacco prices. The price-elasticity of cigarette demand in low- and middle-income countries is about double that in high-inco...

To understand the context for tobacco smoking in young adolescents, estimating the effects of individual, family, social, and school related factors. Cross sectional analysis performed by multilevel logistic regression with pupils at the first level and schools at the second level. The data came from a stratified sample of students surveyed on thei...

The consumption of tobacco has become by far the main avoidable cause of disease and premature death in Spain. There is a trend towards picking up the tobacco habit at an earlier age for both males and females. The number of women smokers is rising, particularly in the younger age groups (45% of women between the ages of 16 and 22 claim to be smoke...

Resumen. El presente estudio pretende una definición teórica y estimación econométrica de funciones de demanda de servicios turísticos en términos de calidad. Tomando como referencia la Encuesta de Gasto Turístico en Canarias, del año 1998, desarrollamos, desde ellado de la demanda, a través de un enfoque de diferenciación vertical en términos de c...

En los últimos años el mercado de servicios dentales en España ha sufrido una fuerte transformación, de acuerdo con un proceso evolutivo en el que han acontecido: formas particulares de organización empresarial, aparición de grupos económicos con distinta capacidad de presión y la consolidación de determinadas prácticas mercantilistas. El mercado d...