ArticleBMJ open2020
Impact of the economic crisis on household health expenditure in Greece: an interrupted time series analysis.
Article in BMJ open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Market strategies used by private hospital providers to consolidate and increase power; a systematic scoping review and evaluative synthesis.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- Out-of-pocket expenditures on child health during an economic recession in Brazil.Revista de saude publica · 2026Article
- The effect of economic crisis and austerity measures on deaths of despair in Brazil: An interrupted time series analysis.PloS one · 2024Article
- Future medical and non-medical costs and their impact on the cost-effectiveness of life-prolonging interventions: a comparison of five European countries.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2023Article
- Comparison of the Distribution of Household Financial Contributions to the Health System before and during COVID-19 Outbreak: Evidence from Nationwide Survey in Iran.Medical journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran · 2023Article
- How International Health System Austerity Responses to the 2008 Financial Crisis Impacted Health System and Workforce Resilience - A Realist Review.International journal of health policy and management · 2023Review
- Effect of economic uncertainty on public health expenditure in Economic Community of West African States: Implications for sustainable healthcare financing.Health science reports · 2022Article
- Does Economic Policy Uncertainty Matter for Healthcare Expenditure in China? A Spatial Econometric Analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2021Article
- Entropy in Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System of Adolescents with General Learning Disabilities or Dyslexia.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2021Article
- The Effect of Business Cycles on Health Expenditure: A Story of Income Inequality in China.Frontiers in public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES AND
settingThe 2008 financial crisis had a particularly severe impact on Greece. To contain spending, the government capped public health expenditure and introduced increased cost-sharing. The Greek case is important for studying the impact of recessions on health systems. This study analysed changes in household health expenditure in Greece over the economic crisis and explored whether the impact differed across socioeconomic groups.
participantsWe used data from the Greek Household Budget Survey for the years 2004 and 2008-2017. The dataset comprised 51 654 households, with a total of 128 111 members.
designWe compared pre-crisis and post-crisis trends in Greek household out-of-pocket payments for healthcare from 2004 to 2017 using an interrupted time series analysis. This study explored spending in euros and as a share of total household purchases.
resultsOur results indicated that the population level trend in household health spending was reversed after the crisis began (pre-crisis trend: €0.040 decrease per quarter (95% CI: -0.785 to -0.022), post-crisis trend: €0.315 increase per quarter (95% CI: -0.004 to 0.635)). We also found that spending on inpatient services and pharmaceuticals has been increasing since the start of the crisis, whereas outpatient services expenditure has been decreasing. Across all households, out-of-pocket payments incurred a greater financial burden after the crisis relative to pre-existing trends, but the poorest households incurred a disproportionately higher burden.
conclusionsThis was the first study to use an interrupted time series analysis to assess the impact of the economic crisis on household health expenditure in Greece. Our findings suggest that there was an erosion of financial protection for Greek households as a consequence of the economic crisis. This effect was particularly pronounced among poorer households, which is indicative of a regressive financing system.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.