Determinants of pharmaceutical expenditures on cardiovascular diseases

Abstract

The thesis analyzes the determinants of pharmaceutical expenditures on cardiovascular diseases with particular focus on Central Europe. We show how the pharmaceutical expenditure varies across the countries. We try to empirically verify that factors such as age, GDP, total health expenditure, education and prevalence of a particular disease cause the variation. Applying the fixed effect model on selected countries in the period 2000-2009, we find that the increase in pharmaceutical expenditures on cardiovascular diseases is explained mainly by aging population and prevalence of the diseases. Additionally, countries with higher GDP tend to also have somewhat higher pharmaceutical expenditures on cardiovascular diseases. Key words Pharmaceutical expenditures, cardiovascular diseases, GDP, health expenditure, fixed effect model, prevalence of a disease, aging of population.