TY - RPRT A1 - Spitzer, Sonja A1 - Shaikh, Mujaheed T1 - Health Misperception and Healthcare Utilisation among Older Europeans N2 - Health perception biases can have serious consequences on health. Despite their relevance,the role of such biases in determining healthcare utilisation is severely underexplored. Herewe study the relationship between health misperception, doctor visits, and concomitant out-of-pocket expenditures for the population 50+ in Europe. We conceptualise health misper-ception as arising from either overconfidence or underconfidence, where overconfidence ismeasured as overestimation of health and underconfidence is measured as underestimationof health. Comparing objective performance measures and their self-reported equivalentsfrom the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, we find that individuals whooverestimate their health visit the doctor 14% less often than individuals who correctly as-sess their health, which is crucial for preventive care such as screenings. Lower healthcareutilisation is accompanied by lower out-of-pocket spending (38% less). In contrast, indi-viduals who underestimate their health visit the doctor more often (28% more) and havehigher out-of-pocket spending (17% more). We project that underestimating health of thepopulation 50+ will cost the average European country Intl$ 71 million in 2020 and Intl$ 81million by 2060. Country-specific estimates based on population and demographic projec-tions show that countries such as Germany, Denmark and The Netherlands will experiencesignificantly large costs of such misperception. The results are robust to several sensitivitytests and, more important, to various conceptualisations of the misperception measure. Y1 - 2020 UR - https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/subsites/Institute/VID/PDF/Publications/Working_Papers/WP2020_01.pdf ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Spitzer, Sonja A1 - Shaikh, Mujaheed T1 - Health misperception and healthcare utilisation among older Europeans JF - Journal of Economics of Ageing N2 - Health misperception can have serious consequences on health. Despite their relevance, the role of such biases in determining healthcare utilisation is severely underexplored. Here we study the relationship between health perception and doctor visits for the population 50+ in Europe. We conceptualise health misperception as arising from either overconfidence or underconfidence, where overconfidence is measured as overestimation of health and underconfidence is measured as underestimation of health. Comparing objective performance measures and their self-reported equivalents from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, we find that individuals who overestimate their health visit the doctor 17.0% less often than individuals who correctly assess their health, which is crucial for preventive care such as screenings. In contrast, individuals who underestimate their health visit the doctor more often (21.4% more). Effects are similar for dentist visits, but we find no effects on hospital stays. The results are robust to several sensitivity tests and, more important, to various conceptualisations of the health perception measure. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeoa.2022.100383 VL - 22 IS - 100383 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Spitzer, Sonja A1 - Shaikh, Mujaheed A1 - Weber, Daniela T1 - Older Europeans' health perception and their adaptive behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic JF - European Journal of Public Health N2 - Background Although older adults are more vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus, a significant proportion of them do not follow recommended guidelines concerning preventive actions during the ongoing pandemic. This article analyses the role of biased health beliefs for adaptive health behaviour such as reduced mobility, protection in public spaces and hygiene measures, for the population aged 50 and older in 13 European countries. Methods Health perception is measured based on the difference between self-reported health and physical performance tests for over 24 000 individuals included in the most recent Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Logistic regressions are employed to explore how over- and underestimating health are related to preventive behaviours. Results Results suggest that older adults who underestimate their health are more likely to show adaptive behaviour related to mobility reductions. In particular, they are more likely to stay at home, shop less and go for walks less often. In contrast, overestimating health is not significantly associated with reduced mobility. Protective behaviour in public spaces and adopting hygiene measures do not vary systematically between health perception groups. Conclusion As health beliefs appear relevant for the adoption of preventive health behaviours related to mobility, they have serious consequences for the health and well-being of older Europeans. Although adaptive behaviour helps to contain the virus, exaggerated mobility reduction in those who underestimate their health might be contributing to the already high social isolation and loneliness of older adults during the ongoing pandemic. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab221 VL - 32 IS - 2 SP - 322 EP - 327 ER -