Stanford Health Policy is a joint effort of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford School of Medicine
Sherri Rose
By Tara Templin
Background: Chronic hepatitis C virus is difficult to treat and affects approximately 3 million Americans. Protease inhibitors increase the effectiveness of standard therapy, but they are costly. A genetic assay may identify patients most likely to benefit from this treatment advance.
Objective: To assess the cost-effectiveness of new protease inhibitors and an interleukin (IL)–28B genotyping assay for treating chronic hepatitis C virus.
To address growing concerns over childhood obesity, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently recommended that children undergo obesity screening beginning at age 6. An Expert Committee recommends starting at age 2. Analysis is needed to assess these recommendations and investigate whether there are better alternatives. We model the age- and sex-specific population-wide distribution of BMI through age 18 using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) data.
What kind of a health care system do China’s 1.3 billion turn to when ill, injured, or in need of care? This article provides a brief overview of how China’s health system has transformed alongside China’s society and economy since the Mao era, including how the current system is financed, organized, regulated, and being reformed. It first provides a brief description of the Mao-era health system and China’s demographic and epidemiologic transitions.