IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pgph00/0000690.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of changes in short-term human cognition on reported healthcare utilisation

Author

Listed:
  • Richard A Iles
  • Thomas L Marsh
  • S M Thumbi
  • Guy H Palmer

Abstract

Growing empirical evidence indicates that financial anxiety causes reductions in short-term cognitive capacity. Results from urban communities in Delhi, India show sizable differences in the number of health events recalled between the poor and non-poor respondents over experimentally controlled recall periods. One explanation for this recall difference is ‘poor memory’. Such results provide additional reasons for healthy skepticism of the accuracy of self-reported health survey data. The present research identifies which forms of cognitive capacity are related to health event recall and assesses the roles of poverty and illiteracy as mediating variables. Results indicate that underreporting of health events among the poor in rural Kenya is not solely due to ‘poor memory’. Data used comes from a repeated cross-sectional study conducted in Samburu county, Kenya over 10-months between 2017–2018. This period coincided with the ending of a protracted and severe drought in East Africa. The results presented in the current study confirm the poor and non-poor distinction, but provide a more detailed cognitive explanation for such results. Reflective throught, as measured by fluid intelligence and heuristic use, is shown to be good predictors of fever recall among relatively poor rura communities in central Kenya.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard A Iles & Thomas L Marsh & S M Thumbi & Guy H Palmer, 2022. "Effects of changes in short-term human cognition on reported healthcare utilisation," PLOS Global Public Health, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(11), pages 1-12, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pgph00:0000690
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000690
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000690
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000690&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000690?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kjellsson, Gustav & Clarke, Philip & Gerdtham, Ulf-G., 2014. "Forgetting to remember or remembering to forget: A study of the recall period length in health care survey questions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 34-46.
    2. Leandro S. Carvalho & Stephan Meier & Stephanie W. Wang, 2016. "Poverty and Economic Decision-Making: Evidence from Changes in Financial Resources at Payday," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(2), pages 260-284, February.
    3. Kim Dalziel & Jinhu Li & Anthony Scott & Philip Clarke, 2018. "Accuracy of patient recall for self‐reported doctor visits: Is shorter recall better?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(11), pages 1684-1698, November.
    4. Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2008. "The Role of Cognitive Skills in Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(3), pages 607-668, September.
    5. Clarke, Philip M. & Fiebig, Denzil G. & Gerdtham, Ulf-G., 2008. "Optimal recall length in survey design," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1275-1284, September.
    6. Das, Jishnu & Hammer, Jeffrey & Sánchez-Paramo, Carolina, 2012. "The impact of recall periods on reported morbidity and health seeking behavior," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 76-88.
    7. Van de Ven, Wynand P. M. M. & Van Praag, Bernard M. S., 1981. "The demand for deductibles in private health insurance : A probit model with sample selection," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 229-252, November.
    8. Shane Frederick, 2005. "Cognitive Reflection and Decision Making," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 25-42, Fall.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Iles, Richard & Marsh, Thomas & Mwangi, Thumbi & Palmer, Guy, 2019. "Financial stress, cognition and vaccine use: Dual-processing and changes in risk preference," Working Papers 2019-4, School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University.
    2. Kim Dalziel & Jinhu Li & Anthony Scott & Philip Clarke, 2018. "Accuracy of patient recall for self‐reported doctor visits: Is shorter recall better?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(11), pages 1684-1698, November.
    3. DeVolder, Russell & Serra-Sastre, Victoria & Zamora, Bernarda, 2020. "Examining the variation across acute trusts in patient delayed discharge," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(11), pages 1226-1232.
    4. Hai-Anh H. Dang & Trung X. Hoang & Ha Nguyen, 2021. "The Long-Run and Gender-Equalizing Impacts of School Access: Evidence from the First Indochina War," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(1), pages 453-484.
    5. Federico Echenique & Taisuke Imai & Kota Saito, 2023. "Approximate Expected Utility Rationalization," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(5), pages 1821-1864.
    6. Moghaddasi Kelishomi, Ali & Sgroi, Daniel, 2022. "Cognitive ability and risk preferences in a developing nation: Findings from the field," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    7. Huong Trang Kim & Quang Nguyen, 2024. "Linking top managers’ behavioural traits with business practices and firm performance," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(11), pages 3253-3296, November.
    8. Victor Stango & Joanne Yoong & Jonathan Zinman, 2017. "Quicksand or Bedrock for Behavioral Economics? Assessing Foundational Empirical Questions," NBER Working Papers 23625, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Mika Akesaka & Peter Eibich & Chie Hanaoka & Hitoshi Shigeoka, 2023. "Temporal Instability of Risk Preference among the Poor: Evidence from Payday Cycles," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 68-99, October.
    10. Kjellsson, Gustav & Clarke, Philip & Gerdtham, Ulf-G., 2014. "Forgetting to remember or remembering to forget: A study of the recall period length in health care survey questions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 34-46.
    11. Francesco D’Acunto & Daniel Hoang & Maritta Paloviita & Michael Weber, 2023. "IQ, Expectations, and Choice," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(5), pages 2292-2325.
    12. Kelishomi, Ali Moghaddasi & Sgroi, Daniel, 2022. "The Relationship between Cognitive Ability and Risk Preferences in a Developing Nation: Findings from the Field," IZA Discussion Papers 15266, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Marco Angrisani & Marco Cipriani & Antonio Guarino & Ryan Kendall & Julen Ortiz de Zarate Pina, 2020. "Risk Preferences at the Time of COVID-19: An Experiment with Professional Traders and Students," Staff Reports 927, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    14. Thomas W. H. Ng & Lorenzo Lucianetti & Dennis Y. Hsu & Frederick H. K. Yim & Kelly L. Sorensen, 2021. "You Speak, I Speak: The Social‐Cognitive Mechanisms of Voice Contagion," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(6), pages 1569-1608, September.
    15. Iles, Richard & Marsh, Thomas & Mwangi, Thumbi, 2019. "Poverty, a heuristic and economic decision-making: A quasi-natural experiment from rural Kenya," Working Papers 2019-2, School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University.
    16. Felipe González-Arango & Javier Corredor & María Angélica López-Ardila & María Camila Contreras-González & Juan Herrera-Santofimio & Jhonathan Jared González, 2022. "The duality of poverty: a replication of Mani et al. (2013) in Colombia," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 39-73, February.
    17. Yan Chen & Ming Jiang & Erin L. Krupka, 2019. "Hunger and the gender gap," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 22(4), pages 885-917, December.
    18. Eva Raiber & Daniela Horta Saenz & Timothée Demont, 2023. "Turning worries into performance: Results from an online experiment during COVID," French Stata Users' Group Meetings 2023 08, Stata Users Group.
    19. Hao, Zhuang & Zhang, Xudong & Wang, Yuze, 2024. "Assessing the accuracy of self-reported health expenditure data: Evidence from two public surveys in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 356(C).
    20. Evans, David K. & Mendez Acosta, Amina, 2023. "How to measure student absenteeism in low- and middle-income countries," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pgph00:0000690. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: globalpubhealth (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.