How did national life expectation related to school years in developing countries - an approach using panel data mining.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of the study was to probe into the changes in life expectancy associated with schooling years found by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).


METHODS
The study was based on the OECD database from the period 2000 to 2006. The data of thirty countries were constructed to allow comparisons over time and across these countries. Panel data analysis was used to estimate the relationship of national education, as defined as school years, with life expectancy. The control factors considered were numbers of practicing physicians, practicing nurses, hospital beds, and GDP.


RESULTS
We used fixed effects of both country and time through linear regression, the coefficient of school years in relation to life expectancy was statistically significant but negative. This finding is not in accord with the hypothesis that investing in human capital through education stimulates better health outcomes.


CONCLUSIONS
Within developing countries, educational attainment is no longer keeping the same pace with life expectancy as before. Therefore, we suggest that an effective education policy should cover diverse topics, for example, balancing economic growth and mental hygiene, to improve national life expectancy.
School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: jjtmutw@gmail.com.
Wen-Shan
WS
Jian
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taiwan; Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan; School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan. Electronic address: chenling@tmu.edu.tw.
Chen-Ling
CL
Huang
College of Medicine Science and Technology, Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: usman.iqbal85@gmail.com.
Usman
U
Iqbal
College of Medicine Science and Technology, Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: alexnthhp@gmail.com.
Phung-Anh
PA
Nguyen
Institute of Biomedical Informatics, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: geohsiao@tmu.edu.tw.
George
G
Hsiao
School of Health Care Administration, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: linus@tmu.edu.tw.
Hsien-Chang
HC
Li
D019295:Computational Biology; D057225:Data Mining / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D006295:Health Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy / Q000639:trends*; D012044:Regression Analysis
Education; Life expectancy; OECD; Panel data analysis