title: Are investments in disease prevention complements? The case of statins and health behaviors.
abstract: We obtain estimates of associations between statin use and health behaviors. Statin use is associated with a small increase in BMI and moderate (20-33%) increases in the probability of being obese. Statin use was also associated with a significant (e.g., 15% of mean) increase in moderate alcohol use among men. There was no consistent evidence of a decrease in smoking associated with statin use, and exercise worsened somewhat for females. Statin use was associated with increased physical activity among males. Finally, there was evidence that statin use increased the use of blood pressure medication and aspirin for both males and females, although estimates varied considerably in magnitude. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that healthy diet is a strong substitute for statins, but there is only uneven evidence for the hypothesis that investments in disease prevention are complementary.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Chicago and NBER, United States. Electronic address: kaestner@uic.edu.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kaestner
authors.affiliation: Tulane University, United States. Electronic address: mdarden1@tulane.edu.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Darden
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California and NBER, United States. Electronic address: dlakdawa@sppd.usc.edu.
authors.forename: Darius
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lakdawalla
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000097:blood*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000379:methods*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
chemical_list: D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; D002784:Cholesterol
keywords: Complementarity; Health behaviors; Health investment; Prevention; Statins