ARE WE MISSING LUPUS IN MALES? EVIDENCE OF COGNITIVE BIAS FROM A RANDOMIZED EXPERIMENT IN THE UNITED STATES.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Simard JF
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8925022 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:We conducted an audit study - a resume correspondence experiment - to measure discrimination in hiring faced by Indigenous Peoples in the United States (Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians). We sent employers 13,516 realistic resumes of Indigenous or white applications for common jobs in 11 cities. We signalled Indigenous status in one of four different ways. Interview offer rates do not differ by race, which holds after an extensive battery of robustness checks. We discuss multiple concerns such as the saliency of signals, selection of cities and occupations, and labour market tightness that could affect the results of our audit study and those of others. We also conduct decompositions of wages, unemployment rates, unemployment durations, and employment durations to explore if discrimination might exist in contexts outside our experiment. We conclude by highlighting the essential tests and considerations that are important for future audit studies, regardless of if they find discrimination or not.
| S-EPMC7351098 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeMultiple studies have reported a positive association between missing teeth and cognitive impairment. While some authors have postulated causal mechanisms, existing designs preclude assessing this.MethodsWe sought evidence of a causal effect of missing teeth on early-onset cognitive impairment in a natural experiment, using differential exposure to fluoridated water during critical childhood years (ages 5-20 years) in England as the instrument. We coded missing teeth from 0 (≤ 12 missing) to 3 (all missing) and measured the association with cognitive impairment in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing data (2014-5), covering 4958 persons aged 50-70 years.ResultsWe first replicated previous evidence of the strongly positive association of missing teeth with cognitive impairment (β = 0.25 [0.11, 0.39]), after adjusting for socio-demographic covariates, such as age, gender, education, and wealth. Using an instrumental variable design, we found that childhood exposure to water fluoridation was strongly associated with fewer missing teeth, with being exposed to fluoridated water during childhood (16 years) associated with a 0.96 reduction in the missing teeth scale (β = - 0.06 [- 0.10, - 0.02]). However, when using the instrumented measure of missing teeth, predicted by probability of fluoride exposure, we found that missing teeth no longer had an association with cognitive impairment (β = 1.48 [- 1.22, 4.17]), suggesting that previous oral health-cognitive impairment associations had unobserved confounding.ConclusionsOur findings are consistent with the possibility that unobserved confounding leads to the oft-observed association between missing teeth and early-onset cognitive impairment, suggesting that the relationship is spurious rather than causal.
| S-EPMC10960740 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Public health officials warn that the greatest barrier to widespread vaccination against Covid-19 will not be scientific or technical, but the considerable public hesitancy to take a novel vaccine. Understanding the factors that influence vaccine acceptance is critical to informing public health campaigns aiming to combat public fears and ensure broad uptake. Employing a conjoint experiment embedded on an online survey of almost 2,000 adult Americans, we show that the effects of seven vaccine attributes on subjects' willingness to vaccinate vary significantly across subgroups. Vaccine efficacy was significantly more influential on vaccine acceptance among whites than among Blacks, while bringing a vaccine to market under a Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization had a stronger adverse effect on willingness to vaccinate among older Americans and women. Democrats were more sensitive to vaccine efficacy than Republicans, and both groups responded differently to various endorsements of the vaccine. We also explored whether past flu vaccination history, attitudes toward general vaccine safety, and personal contact with severe cases of Covid-19 can explain variation in group vaccination hesitancy. Many subgroups that exhibit the greatest Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy did not report significantly lower frequencies of flu vaccination. Several groups that exhibited greater Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy also reported greater concerns about vaccine safety generally, but others did not. Finally, subgroup variation in reported personal contact with severe cases of Covid-19 did not strongly match subgroup variation in vaccine acceptance.
| S-EPMC8064867 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Iodine deficiency is the leading cause of preventable mental retardation in the world today. The condition, which was common in the developed world until the introduction of iodized salt in the 1920s, is connected to low iodine levels in the soil and water. We examine the impact of salt iodization on cognitive outcomes in the US by taking advantage of this natural geographic variation. Salt was iodized over a short period of time beginning in 1924. We use military data collected during WWI and WWII to compare outcomes of cohorts born before and after iodization in localities that were naturally poor and rich in iodine. We find that for the one quarter of the population most deficient in iodine this intervention raised IQ by approximately one standard deviation. Our results can explain roughly one decade's worth of the upward trend in IQ in the US (the Flynn Effect). We also document a large increase in thyroid-related deaths following the countrywide adoption of iodized salt, which affected mostly older individuals in localities with high prevalence of iodine deficiency.
| S-EPMC6919660 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundBarriers to public support for naloxone distribution include lack of knowledge, concerns about potential unintended consequences, and lack of sympathy for people at risk of overdose.MethodsA randomized survey experiment was conducted with a nationally-representative web-based survey research panel (GfK KnowledgePanel). Participants were randomly assigned to read different messages alone or in combination: 1) factual information about naloxone; 2) pre-emptive refutation of potential concerns about naloxone distribution; and 3) a sympathetic narrative about a mother whose daughter died of an opioid overdose. Participants were then asked if they support or oppose policies related to naloxone distribution. For each policy item, logistic regression models were used to test the effect of each message exposure compared with the no-exposure control group.ResultsThe final sample consisted of 1,598 participants (completion rate: 72.6%). Factual information and the sympathetic narrative alone each led to higher support for training first responders to use naloxone, providing naloxone to friends and family members of people using opioids, and passing laws to protect people who administer naloxone. Participants receiving the combination of the sympathetic narrative and factual information, compared to factual information alone, were more likely to support all policies: providing naloxone to friends and family members (OR: 2.0 [95% CI: 1.4 to 2.9]), training first responders to use naloxone (OR: 2.0 [95% CI: 1.2 to 3.4]), passing laws to protect people if they administer naloxone (OR: 1.5 [95% CI: 1.04 to 2.2]), and passing laws to protect people if they call for medical help for an overdose (OR: 1.7 [95% CI: 1.2 to 2.5]).ConclusionsAll messages increased public support, but combining factual information and the sympathetic narrative was most effective. Public support for naloxone distribution can be improved through education and sympathetic portrayals of the population who stands to benefit from these policies.
| S-EPMC4488484 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Childhood lead exposure has devastating lifelong consequences, as even low-level exposure stunts intelligence and leads to delinquent behavior. However, these consequences may be more extensive than previously thought because childhood lead exposure may adversely affect normal-range personality traits. Personality influences nearly every aspect of human functioning, from well-being to career earnings to longevity, so effects of lead exposure on personality would have far-reaching societal consequences. In a preregistered investigation, we tested this hypothesis by linking historic atmospheric lead data from 269 US counties and 37 European nations to personality questionnaire data from over 1.5 million people who grew up in these areas. Adjusting for age and socioeconomic status, US adults who grew up in counties with higher atmospheric lead levels had less adaptive personality profiles: they were less agreeable and conscientious and, among younger participants, more neurotic. Next, we utilized a natural experiment, the removal of leaded gasoline because of the 1970 Clean Air Act, to test whether lead exposure caused these personality differences. Participants born after atmospheric lead levels began to decline in their county had more mature, psychologically healthy adult personalities (higher agreeableness and conscientiousness and lower neuroticism), but these findings were not discriminable from pure cohort effects. Finally, we replicated associations in Europeans. European participants who spent their childhood in areas with more atmospheric lead were less agreeable and more neurotic in adulthood. Our findings suggest that further reduction of lead exposure is a critical public health issue.
| S-EPMC8307752 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PURPOSE:We provide population-based longitudinal evidence of marital status differences in the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia in the United States. METHODS:Data were from the longitudinal National Health and Aging Trends Study, 2011-2018. The sample included 7508 respondents aged 65 years and older who contributed 25,897 person-year records. We estimated discrete-time hazard models to predict the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment, not dementia (CIND), as well as impairment in three major cognitive domains: memory, orientation, and executive function. RESULTS:Relative to their married counterparts, divorced and widowed elders had higher odds of dementia and CIND, as well as higher odds of impairment in each of the cognitive domains. Never-married elders had higher odds of impairment in memory and orientation than their married counterparts but did not differ significantly in the odds of impaired executive function, dementia, or CIND. Cohabiting elders did not differ significantly from married respondents on any measure of cognitive impairment. We found no gender differences in the associations between marital status and the measures of cognitive impairment. CONCLUSIONS:Marital status is a potentially important but overlooked social risk/protective factor for cognitive impairment. Divorced and widowed older adults are particularly vulnerable to cognitive impairment.
| S-EPMC6812624 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Although haemophilia is an expensive disorder, no studies have estimated health care costs for Americans with haemophilia enrolled in Medicaid as distinct from those with employer-sponsored insurance (ESI). The objective of this study is to provide information on health care utilization and expenditures for publicly insured people with haemophilia in the United States in comparison with people with haemophilia who have ESI. Data from the MarketScan Medicaid Multi-State, Commercial and Medicare Supplemental databases were used for the period 2004-2008 to identify cases of haemophilia and to estimate medical expenditures during 2008. A total of 511 Medicaid-enrolled males with haemophilia were identified, 435 of whom were enrolled in Medicaid for at least 11 months during 2008. Most people with haemophilia qualified for Medicaid based on 'disability'. Average Medicaid expenditures in 2008 were $142,987 [median, $46,737], similar to findings for people with ESI. Average costs for males with haemophilia A and an inhibitor were 3.6 times higher than those for individuals without an inhibitor. Average costs for 56 adult Medicaid enrollees with HCV or HIV infection were not statistically different from those for adults without the infection, but median costs were 1.6 times higher for those treated for blood-borne infections. Haemophilia treatment can lead to high costs for payers. Further research is needed to understand the effects of public health insurance on haemophilia care and expenditures, to evaluate treatment strategies and to implement strategies that may improve outcomes and reduce costs of care.
| S-EPMC4684173 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The psychological theory argues that serious threats cause negative attitudes from ingroups to outgroups. However, the factors that can reduce such outgroup bias caused by the health threats of a pandemic are unknown. Here, we provide evidence that health certifications to prove immunity or negative test result for COVID-19 reduce outgroup bias. Using a discrete choice experiment with a randomized conjoint design in Japan, we investigated public attitudes towards inbound travelers entering the country, including foreigners, immigrants, and tourists. We found that travelers carrying a vaccination certificate or a negative test result for COVID-19 have a higher probability or rating of being admitted to the country. These effects are the same size as those for travelers undergoing self-isolation. Thus, our results demonstrate that health certification can mitigate outgroup bias among ingroup members experiencing threats to health due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We anticipate that the findings would support the combined usage of vaccine passports and negative certificates to reopen the international borders.
| S-EPMC9462644 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This paper provides experimental evidence on the relationship between social preferences and cognitive abilities, which we measure using the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT). We elicit social preferences by way of 24 dictatorial situations, in which the Dictator's choice sets include (i) standard Dictator games, where increasing the Dictator's payoff yields a loss for the Recipient, (ii) efficient Dictator games, where increasing the Dictator's payoff also increases that the Recipient's; as well as other situations in which (iii) either the Dictator's or (iv) the Recipient's monetary payoff is held constant. We partition our subject pool into three groups: reflective (scoring 2 or more in the CRT), impulsive (opting twice or more for the "intuitive" but wrong answers in the CRT) and the remainder. We find that impulsive Dictators show a marked inequity aversion attitude, especially in standard Dictator Games. By contrast, reflective Dictators show lower distributional concerns, except for the situations in which the Dictators' payoff is held constant. In this case, reflective Dictators give significantly more.
| S-EPMC4473592 | biostudies-literature