International Comparison of the Success, Cost, and Efficiency of Modern Medicine

Abstract

Traditional “western” medicine has been highly successful in the ten industrialized countries studied for the period from 1980 to 1990. By studying mortality in six diseases deemed amenable to treatment (“avoidable” deaths), as well as mortality for “unavoidable” diseases (primarily degenerative and genetic conditions), and correlating them to health care expenditures, the authors were able to analyze the efficiency of countries' efforts to reduce mortality rates. The lag between spending and health outcomes, as well as the extent of the correlation between expenditures as a percentage of a country's GDP and its mortality rates, may inform and illuminate both fiscal and medical decisions for the future.