Notas breves sobre desempleo, cáncer y sanidad pública

Hay lecturas que te dejan sin palabras... Las conclusiones de este reciente estudio ("Economic downturns, universal health coverage, and cancer mortality in high-income and middle-income countries, 1990–2010: a longitudinal analysis") publicado en The Lancet no puede ser más claro:

Unemployment increases are associated with rises in cancer mortality; universal health coverage seems to protect against this effect. Public-sector expenditure on health care increases are associated with reduced cancer mortality. Access to health care could underlie these associations. We estimate that the 2008–10 economic crisis was associated with about 260 000 excess cancer-related deaths in the OCDE alone.

Los autores analizan dos variables, tasa de desempleo y gasto público en sanidad, ambas en relación a la mortalidad por cáncer. En resumen, si bien el desempleo incrementa dicha mortalidad, si se produce un incremento en el gasto público destinado a sanidad esta mortalidad se reduce. Por si a alguien le quedaba alguna duda...