Premium
Communicating the health effects of consumer products: The case of moderate alcohol consumption and coronary heart disease
Author(s) -
Phillips Carl V.,
Zeckhauser Richard
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
managerial and decision economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.288
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1099-1468
pISSN - 0143-6570
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1468(199609)17:5<459::aid-mde788>3.0.co;2-d
Subject(s) - consumption (sociology) , alcohol consumption , myocardial infarction , framingham heart study , coronary heart disease , representation (politics) , medicine , health benefits , environmental health , framingham risk score , disease , actuarial science , medical emergency , business , alcohol , cardiology , traditional medicine , political science , biochemistry , chemistry , social science , sociology , politics , law
Moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages (MAC) has been estimated to significantly reduce the risk of myocardial infarction. This paper examines effective ways to communicate this information to guide individuals and their physicians, who must weight personal benefits and costs when deciding about drinking. It argues that presenting a scalar representation of the effect, life years saved, is much more effective than the ways such information is currently communicated. A simulation using data from the Framingham Heart Study and a conservative estimate of the effect of MAC calculates age‐specific gains in mortality, and survival gains from MAC. They are roughly 0.75 and 0.63 years, respectively, for men and women ages 21–50. Any MAC decision should weigh the benefits of cardiac risk reduction against possible financial, lifestyle or offsetting health costs.