Inequalities in self-reported health: a meta-regression analysis

There is a growing amount of health economics literature in Europe using standardised cross-country health inequality indexes. Yet, limited efforts have been put forward to examine the extent to which such evidence is subject to any specific methodological and publication biases despite studies relying upon different samples, heterogeneous health system institutions and which use different empirical strategies and data manipulation procedures. We draw upon appropriate statistical methods to examine the presence of publication bias in the health economics literature measuring health inequalities of self-reported health. In addition, we test for other biases including the effect of precision estimates based on meta-regression analysis (MRA). We account for a set of biases in estimates of income-related health inequalities that rely on concentration index-related methods and self-reported health measures. Our findings suggest evidence of publication bias that primarily depends on the cardinalisation of self-reported health and study-specific precision. However, no robust evidence of other publication biases has been identified.