Study Results from Institute of Health Economics and Health Care Management Update Understanding of Public Health (Status quo bias and health behavior: findings from a cross-sectional study)

2019 FEB 27 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Health and Medicine - Public Health is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from Neuherberg, Germany, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Status quo bias (SQB) has often been referred to as an important tool for improving public health. However, very few studies were able to link SQB with health behavior.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the Institute of Health Economics and Health Care Management, “Analysis were based on data from the population-based KORA S4 study (1999-2001, n=2309). We operationalized SQB through two questions. The first asked whether participants switched their health insurance for financial benefits since this was enabled in 1996. Those who did were assigned a ‘very low SQB’ (n=213). Participants who did not switch were asked a second hypothetical question regarding switching costs. We assigned ‘low SQB’ to those who indicated low switching costs (n=1035), ‘high SQB’ to those who indicated high switching costs (n=588), and ‘very high SQB’ to those who indicated infinite switching costs (n=473). We tested the association between SQB and physical activity, diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, the sum of health behaviors, and body mass index (BMI) using logistic, Poisson and ordinary least square regression models, respectively. Models were adjusted for age, sex, education, income, satisfaction with current health insurance and morbidity. SQB was associated with a higher rate of physical inactivity [OR=1.22, 95% CI (1.11; 1.35)], a higher sum of unhealthy lifestyle factors [IRR=1.05, 95% CI (1.01; 1.10)] and a higher BMI [b=0.30, 95% CI (0.08; 0.51)]. A high SQB was associated with unfavorable health behavior and higher BMI.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Targeting SQB might be a promising strategy for promoting healthy behavior.”

For more information on this research see: Status quo bias and health behavior: findings from a cross-sectional study. European Journal of Public Health, 2019;():. (Oxford University Press - http://www.oup.com/; European Journal of Public Health - eurpub.oxfordjournals.org)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting F.M. Karl, Institute of Health Economics and Health Care Management, Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen (GmbH), German Research Centre for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany. Additional authors for this research include R. Holle, L. Schwettmann, A. Peters and M. Laxy.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckz017. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)