Using Country-Level Data and Panel Econometric Methods to Estimate the Effect of Population Average Milk Consumption on Prostate and Ovarian Cancer Mortality Rates

American Journal of Medical Research 2(2): 7–41

35 Pages Posted: 18 Apr 2016

See all articles by Tobias Hagen

Tobias Hagen

Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences - ReLUT - Research Lab for Urban Transport

Stefanie Waldeck

Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences

Date Written: September 20, 2015

Abstract

Prostate and ovarian cancers have been related to milk consumption. However, existing ecological studies using country-level data do not attempt to identify causal effects since they are only based on simple cross-sectional analyses. Only under very restrictive assumptions the cross-sectional approach is an appropriate way of identifying a causal effect since it is almost impossible to control for all confounding factors. We do not use the cross-sectional (between-country) variation of the mortality rates and the nutrition variables, but time-series (within-country) variation to identify the effect of average milk consumption in countries on their mortality rates of cancer. We estimate whether a change in milk consumption within up to 50 countries is associated with a change in mortality rates over the period 1990 to 2008, after controlling for other factors. The results indicate fairly well that an increase in average milk consumption increases both the average mortality rate of prostate cancer as well as the mortality rate of ovarian cancer.

Keywords: cross-country analysis, epidemiology, ecological study, panel econometrics, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer

JEL Classification: C33, I19, Q18

Suggested Citation

Hagen, Tobias and Waldeck, Stefanie, Using Country-Level Data and Panel Econometric Methods to Estimate the Effect of Population Average Milk Consumption on Prostate and Ovarian Cancer Mortality Rates (September 20, 2015). American Journal of Medical Research 2(2): 7–41, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2761091

Tobias Hagen (Contact Author)

Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences - ReLUT - Research Lab for Urban Transport

Germany

Stefanie Waldeck

Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences ( email )

Nibelungenplatz 1
Frankfurt / Main, 60318
Germany

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