Does Poor Childhood Health Explain Increased Health Care Utilisation and Payments in Middle and Old Age?

Abstract

There is growing evidence of a large, positive and significant association between health experienced in childhood and that evolving in adulthood. For example, Case et al. (2005), using data from a British cohort followed from birth, find that poor health in childhood is correlated with reduced health in adulthood up to the age of 42. The association remains after controlling for socioeconomic circumstances in both childhood and adulthood. One of the many potential implications of such a correlation is that the health care costs of an ageing population will, in part, be determined by health events experienced in childhood and may be less responsive to the prevention and treatment of health problems that arise in adulthood. On a more positive note, the health care costs of ageing may be lower than anticipated since cohorts that will reach old age in the coming years have experienced better childhood health and health care than did their predecessors. This paper examines directly the extent to which health care utilisation and payments in middle and old age are predictable from childhood health experiences.