Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Attributing Causes to Disability

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
International Handbook of Health Expectancies

Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Population ((IHOP,volume 9))

Abstract

Diseases play a major role in the disablement process, especially at older ages. This chapter focuses on the attribution method, which uses cross-sectional data to partition the disability prevalence into additive contribution of causes, taking into account multimorbidity and that disability can occur in the absence of diseases. We present a detailed description of the attribution method, including the definition of the additive hazard models for binary and multinomial disability outcomes. The method is applied to cross-sectional data from Brazil to illustrate the interpretation of the cumulative hazard rates of disability and how the method accounts for multimorbidity and independence. A summary of previous studies that have applied the method are also provided. Finally, the limitations and strengths of this approach compared to alternative methods using cross-sectional data are outlined.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Chiang, C. L. (1961). On the probability of death from specific causes in the presence of competing risks. In Proceedings of the fourth Berkley symposium on mathematical statistics and probability (Vol. 4, pp. 169–180). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Efron, B., & Tibshirani, R. J. (1994). An introduction to the bootstrap. Palto Alto: Morgan Kaufmann.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Eide, G. E. (2008). Attributable fractions for partitioning risk and evaluating disease prevention: A practical guide. The Clinical Respiratory Journal, 2(Suppl 1), 92–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eide, G. E., & Gefeller, O. (1995). Sequential and average attributable fractions as aids in the selection of preventive strategies. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 48(5), 645–655.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, J., Alvarez-Iglesias, A., Newell, J., et al. (2018). Estimating average attributable fractions with confidence intervals for cohort and case-control studies. Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 27(4), 1141–1152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hardy, S. E., & Gill, T. M. (2004). Recovery from disability among community-dwelling older persons. JAMA, 291(13), 1596–1602.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klijs, B., Nusselder, W. J., Looman, C. W., et al. (2011). Contribution of chronic disease to the burden of disability. PLoS One, 6(9), e25325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klijs, B., Nusselder, W. J., Looman, C. W., et al. (2014). Educational disparities in the burden of disability: Contributions of disease prevalence and disabling impact. American Journal of Public Health, 104(8), e141–e148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Llorca, J., & Delgado-Rodriguez, M. (2004). A new way to estimate the contribution of a risk factor in populations avoided no additivity. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 57(5), 479–483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manton, K. G., & Stallard, E. (1984). Recent trends in mortality analysis. Orlando: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • McElduff, P., Attia, J., Ewald, B., et al. (2002). Estimating the contribution of individual risk factors to disease in a person with more than one risk factor. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 55(6), 588–592.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nusselder, W. J., & Looman, C. W. (2004). Decomposition of differences in health expectancy by cause. Demography, 41(2), 315–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nusselder, W. J., Looman, C. W., Mackenbach, J. P., et al. (2005). The contribution of specific diseases to educational disparities in disability-free life expectancy. American Journal of Public Health, 95(11), 2035–2041.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nusselder, W. J., van der Velden, K., van Sonsbeek, J. L., et al. (1996). The elimination of selected chronic diseases in a population: The compression and expansion of morbidity. American Journal of Public Health, 86(2), 187–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nusselder, W. J., Wapperom, D., Looman, C. W. N., et al. (2018). Contribution of chronic conditions to disability in men and women in France. European Journal of Public Health, 29(1), 99–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palazzo, C., Ravaud, J. F., Trinquart, L., et al. (2012). Respective contribution of chronic conditions to disability in France: Results from the national disability-health survey. PLoS One, 7(9), e44994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruckinger, S., von Kries, R., & Toschke, A. M. (2009). An illustration of and programs estimating attributable fractions in large scale surveys considering multiple risk factors. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 9, 7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strobl, R., Muller, M., Emeny, R., et al. (2013). Distribution and determinants of functioning and disability in aged adults – Results from the German KORA-Age study. BMC Public Health, 13, 137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szwarcwald, C. L., Malta, D. C., Pereira, C. A., et al. (2014). Pesquisa Nacional de Saude no Brasil: concepcao e metodologia de aplicacao. Ciênc saúde coletiva, 19(2), 333–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verbrugge, L. M., & Jette, A. M. (1994). The disablement process. Social Science & Medicine, 38(1), 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verbrugge, L. M., Lepkowski, J. M., & Imanaka, Y. (1989). Comorbidity and its impact on disability. Milbank Quarterly, 67(3–4), 450–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vos, T., Flaxman, A. D., Naghavi, M., et al. (2012). Years lived with disability (YLDs) for 1160 sequelae of 289 diseases and injuries 1990-2010: A systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2010. Lancet, 380(9859), 2163–2196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organisation. (2001). International classification of functioning, disability and health: ICF. Geneva.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization. (2013). WHO methods and data sources for global burden of disease estimates 2000–2011. Geneva.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yee, T., & Hastie, T. (2003). Reduced-rank vector generalized linear models. Statistical Modelling, 3(1), 15–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yokota, R. T., Berger, N., Nusselder, W. J., et al. (2015a). Contribution of chronic diseases to the disability burden in a population 15 years and older, Belgium, 1997-2008. BMC Public Health, 15, 229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yokota, R. T., de Moura, L., Andrade, S. S., et al. (2016a). Contribution of chronic conditions to gender disparities in disability in the older population in Brazil, 2013. International Journal of Public Health, 61(9), 1003–1012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yokota, R. T., Nusselder, W. J., Robine, J. M., et al. (2016b). Contribution of chronic conditions to the disability burden across smoking categories in middle-aged adults, Belgium. PLoS One, 11(4), e0153726.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yokota, R. T., Van der Heyden, J., Demarest, S., et al. (2015b). Contribution of chronic diseases to the mild and severe disability burden in Belgium. Archives of Public Health, 73(1), 37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yokota, R. T., Van der Heyden, J., Nusselder, W. J., et al. (2016c). Impact of chronic conditions and multimorbidity on the disability burden in the older population in Belgium. The Journals of Gerontology. Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 71(7), 903–909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yokota, R. T. C., Looman, C. W. N., Nusselder, W. J., et al. (2016d). Addhaz: Binomial and multinomial additive hazards model. in R Package.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yokota, R. T. C., Nusselder, W. J., Robine, J. M., et al. (2017a). Contribution of chronic conditions to functional limitations using a multinomial outcome: Results for the older population in Belgium and Brazil. Archives of Public Health, 75, 68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yokota, R. T. C., Van Oyen, H., Looman, C. W. N., et al. (2017b). Multinomial additive hazard model to assess the disability burden using cross-sectional data. Biometrical Journal, 59(5), 901–917.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Wilma J. Nusselder & Caspar C. Looman

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium

    Herman Van Oyen & Renata Tiene De Carvalho Yokota

  3. Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Herman Van Oyen

  4. Department of Sociology, Interface Demography, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Renata Tiene De Carvalho Yokota

Authors
  1. Wilma J. Nusselder
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Caspar C. Looman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Herman Van Oyen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Renata Tiene De Carvalho Yokota
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wilma J. Nusselder .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

    Carol Jagger

  2. Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Eileen M. Crimmins

  3. College of Economics, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan

    Yasuhiko Saito

  4. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium

    Renata Tiene De Carvalho Yokota  & Herman Van Oyen  & 

  5. Department of Sociology, Interface Demography, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Renata Tiene De Carvalho Yokota

  6. Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Herman Van Oyen

  7. Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm) and Ecole pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Paris, France

    Jean-Marie Robine

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Nusselder, W.J., Looman, C.C., Van Oyen, H., De Carvalho Yokota, R.T. (2020). Attributing Causes to Disability. In: Jagger, C., Crimmins, E.M., Saito, Y., De Carvalho Yokota, R.T., Van Oyen, H., Robine, JM. (eds) International Handbook of Health Expectancies. International Handbooks of Population, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37668-0_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37668-0_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-37666-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-37668-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation