Gilbert Brenes-Camacho | Universidad de Costa Rica (original) (raw)
Papers by Gilbert Brenes-Camacho
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2006
En este trabajo se presenta una visión preliminar y descriptiva de los cambios en los arreglos re... more En este trabajo se presenta una visión preliminar y descriptiva de los cambios en los arreglos residenciales en la población de 60 años y más en siete ciudades latinoamerica- nas. Se exploran la intensidad del cambio, sus razones, la estructura familiar inicial, y el cambio de vivienda física. Los datos utilizados en este estudio provienen de las encues- tas de
Revista panamericana de salud pública (Impresa), Apr 28, 2021
Forma de citar Fantin R, Brenes-Camacho G, Barboza-Solís C. Defunciones por COVID-19: distribució... more Forma de citar Fantin R, Brenes-Camacho G, Barboza-Solís C. Defunciones por COVID-19: distribución por edad y universalidad de la cobertura médica en 22 países. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2021;45:e42.
Current cohorts of Latin American elderly have witnessed the fast demographic and epidemiologic t... more Current cohorts of Latin American elderly have witnessed the fast demographic and epidemiologic transition and the process of economic modernization through which the region underwent during the 20 th century. During their childhood years, they experienced an environment characterized by economic deprivation, malnutrition, and high prevalence of infectious diseases, but survived to old age due to the introduction of medical technology and public health measures (Palloni, 1981). In light of the thrifty phenotype hypothesis (Hales and Barker, 1992; 2001), people that were undernourished during gestation and early childhood are more likely to develop Type II Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Given the high prevalence of these conditions among current Latin American elderly cohorts, Palloni et al (2006) and Prentice and Moore (2005) have hypothesized that there might be an epidemic of DM. The goal of this dissertation is to estimate the effect of early childhood conditions on DM burden among the population 60 years old and older in Costa Rica, and to project the prevalence
The heteroskedastic generalized linear model (HGLM) is a generalized linear model (GLM) where the... more The heteroskedastic generalized linear model (HGLM) is a generalized linear model (GLM) where the conditional variance of a dependent variable yi is a function of a vector of covariates xi. This paper aims to analyze differential income inequality among groups in Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay –all countries in Latin America, a region with high income inequality–, by modeling log-income variance. Heteroskedastic models can be useful to understand the characteristics of economic inequality in the region, and highlight the variables that can be subject to public policies in order to improve income distribution. We use household surveys datasets produced by these countries' National Statistical Offices, and standardized by the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) project to enhance comparability. The analysis starts with a Variance-Equation-only model for each country to determine betweengroups differences in income variability. A Mean-and-Variance-Equations model is also estimated to cont...
Tesis (Maestria en Estadistica). Universidad de Costa Rica. Sistema de Estudios de Posgrado, 1999
Revista Ensayos Pedagógicos, 2010
Este artículo propone la construcción de un Psicoanálisis a partir de: lo pedagógico, lo curricul... more Este artículo propone la construcción de un Psicoanálisis a partir de: lo pedagógico, lo curricular y lo cultural en cuanto convergen como un proceso institucional en torno a la dinámica de lo inconsciente.
International Journal of Epidemiology, 2020
Population projections at a small area level are sensitive to random departures in temporal trend... more Population projections at a small area level are sensitive to random departures in temporal trends of population change components. In order to have robust trends for the county level projections in Costa Rica, the team in charge of forecasting decided to determine county clusters based on the past trends. In this paper, we compare three descriptive techniques used to build space-time clusters for the Crude Birth Rate CBR: Functional Data Analysis (FDA), the scan statistic, and Geographically Weighted Regression GWR. GWR was the technique that yielded clusters related to the diffusion paradigm for fertility decline. However, the scan statistic provided a more parsimonious set of clusters that are more tractable for population projections.
Rosero, L., Brenes G., Mendez, E. (2009) Obesidad, envejecimiento y mortalidad en Costa Rica. En ... more Rosero, L., Brenes G., Mendez, E. (2009) Obesidad, envejecimiento y mortalidad en Costa Rica. En Pelaez E. (coord.), Sociedad y Adulto Mayor en America Latina. Estudios sobre Envejecimiento en la Region (pp117-137). Brasil: ALAP
Objective: The purpose of the study was to develop normative data for anthropometric, adiposity a... more Objective: The purpose of the study was to develop normative data for anthropometric, adiposity and upper body strength in Costa Rican adults 60 to 110 years old. Method: A representative sample of Costa Rican male and female older adults (n= 2 711) were assessed for body weight and height, knee height, waist, hip and arm circumferences, adiposity, and upper-body strength. The 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles were selected as the normative reference points for each 10-year age groups (60-69, 70-79, 80-89, 90-99, and ≥100). Results: Men and women experience age-related increased adiposity and reductions in upper body strength; however, men increased their upper-body strength at older ages. Conclusion: The normative values allow health professionals to monitor anthropometric, adiposity, and upper-body strength in older adults, and to design comprehensive fitness interventions that promote a healthy lifestyle in the population.
INTRODUCTION: The aging population is becoming significantly large in several countries due to im... more INTRODUCTION: The aging population is becoming significantly large in several countries due to improved health conditions and higher life expectancy. For instance, Costa Rican elderly have 17% less mortality at 90 yr. of age than elderly from high-income countries, and in Costa Rica life expectancy is higher for men than for women. In developed countries such as Spain, a large number of sedentary elderly have been found with elevated body fat percentage, which might impact their overall health and quality of life. Although the international scientific literature is extensive, the physical and functional status of Central American elderly is unknown. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to construct normative scores for anthropometric, adiposity and upper-arm strength variables in Costa Rican adults aged 60 to 110 yr. METHODS: Participants were 5494 Costa Rican elderly randomly selected from the Costa Rican National Population Census. These participants were assessed to determine th...
Revista Latinoamericana de Población, 2018
(ucr). Su investigación se centra en procesos de envejecimiento en América Latina, mortalidad y s... more (ucr). Su investigación se centra en procesos de envejecimiento en América Latina, mortalidad y salud, y proyecciones de población.
ISSN 2145 6445 (Impreso) ISSN 2215-8758 (En línea) Abstract: Objective. The coverage of pension p... more ISSN 2145 6445 (Impreso) ISSN 2215-8758 (En línea) Abstract: Objective. The coverage of pension plans in Latin America is relatively low and so, people postpone retirement and decide to continue working. The aim of the paper is to analyze the family characteristics that predict the decisions of leaving the job market with or without pension benefits. Methodology. Data from CRELES, a longitudinal survey of the elderly with two cohorts were used. Results and conclusions. Among people aged 55 and older who were working at the baseline, 25% left the labor market, and 9% started receiving retirement money, even though some of them continued working. People who make informal cash transfers to family members are more likely to retire, especially earlier than others. Those who looked after children were more likely to stop working without a formal pension. There was no evidence that the spouse’s working status was related to retirement decisions.
Study of aging and obesity and its effect on mortality and disability in a middle-income country ... more Study of aging and obesity and its effect on mortality and disability in a middle-income country using longitudinal data from the “Costa Rica: Longevity and Healthy Aging Study”. Obesity prevalence is higher among women and it clearly declines with age after about the 70 birthday. The decline comes from generation effects (younger cohorts are less obese) but there is also a genuine effect of weight loss with aging as longitudinal data show. There is a complex relationship between obesity and risk of dying, which increases with body mass and, especially with abdominal girth, but only in individuals younger than 75 approximately. After this age the relationship reverses and body mass is a protective factor against death, which somehow neutralizes the catastrophic effect on life expectancy that some predict from increasing obesity trends. The impact of obesity on disability is clearer than on mortality, although it disappears at very old ages.
Resumen El análisis de secuencias es una nueva técnica estadística utilizada en estudios genético... more Resumen El análisis de secuencias es una nueva técnica estadística utilizada en estudios genéticos y en ingeniería que busca establecer cuáles son las secuencias de even-tos más frecuentes en una cadena de eventos. Se puede utilizar para analizar la serie de morbilidades que enfrenta una persona durante un período de tiem-po, como una forma de investigar la teoría del «uso y desgaste» o «deterioro físi-co» en envejecimiento. Se utilizan los datos de dos encuestas de envejecimiento: CRELES (Costa Rica) y PREHCO (Puerto Rico). En Costa Rica, la hipercolestero-lemia es más letal en comorbilidad que sin la presencia de otras condiciones, mientras que en Puerto Rico, las complicaciones de la diabetes mellitus y de la hipertensión aumentan los riesgos de muerte. El análisis permite ver la impor-tancia de ciertas enfermedades como factores de riesgo de otras enfermedades: la hipertensión y la hipercolesterolemia son factores de riesgo de los infartos o los accidentes cerebovasculares. Pala...
Objective: The goals of this article are to assess the level of preventive service utilization by... more Objective: The goals of this article are to assess the level of preventive service utilization by older persons in Costa Rica and to determine whether there are differentials in utilization across socioeconomic status (SES) and institutional characteristics. Method: Using data from the Costa Rican Study on Longevity and Healthy Aging (CRELES) project, a study of healthy aging in Costa Rica, the authors use self-reported information on preventive service utilization. The SES differentials are studied using logistic regressions. Results: Preventive services linked to cardiovascular disease prevention are frequently utilized; preventive services linked to cancer screening, vaccination, and sense impairments are not so widely used. Higher SES people are more likely to utilize most preventive services. Utilization rates among uninsured seniors are lower than among their insured peers. Home visits by community health workers are positively associated with higher utilization rates. Discussion: The SES disparities in preventive service utilization exist in Costa Rica, and institutional characteristics are positively associated with increasing utilization.
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2006
En este trabajo se presenta una visión preliminar y descriptiva de los cambios en los arreglos re... more En este trabajo se presenta una visión preliminar y descriptiva de los cambios en los arreglos residenciales en la población de 60 años y más en siete ciudades latinoamerica- nas. Se exploran la intensidad del cambio, sus razones, la estructura familiar inicial, y el cambio de vivienda física. Los datos utilizados en este estudio provienen de las encues- tas de
Revista panamericana de salud pública (Impresa), Apr 28, 2021
Forma de citar Fantin R, Brenes-Camacho G, Barboza-Solís C. Defunciones por COVID-19: distribució... more Forma de citar Fantin R, Brenes-Camacho G, Barboza-Solís C. Defunciones por COVID-19: distribución por edad y universalidad de la cobertura médica en 22 países. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2021;45:e42.
Current cohorts of Latin American elderly have witnessed the fast demographic and epidemiologic t... more Current cohorts of Latin American elderly have witnessed the fast demographic and epidemiologic transition and the process of economic modernization through which the region underwent during the 20 th century. During their childhood years, they experienced an environment characterized by economic deprivation, malnutrition, and high prevalence of infectious diseases, but survived to old age due to the introduction of medical technology and public health measures (Palloni, 1981). In light of the thrifty phenotype hypothesis (Hales and Barker, 1992; 2001), people that were undernourished during gestation and early childhood are more likely to develop Type II Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Given the high prevalence of these conditions among current Latin American elderly cohorts, Palloni et al (2006) and Prentice and Moore (2005) have hypothesized that there might be an epidemic of DM. The goal of this dissertation is to estimate the effect of early childhood conditions on DM burden among the population 60 years old and older in Costa Rica, and to project the prevalence
The heteroskedastic generalized linear model (HGLM) is a generalized linear model (GLM) where the... more The heteroskedastic generalized linear model (HGLM) is a generalized linear model (GLM) where the conditional variance of a dependent variable yi is a function of a vector of covariates xi. This paper aims to analyze differential income inequality among groups in Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay –all countries in Latin America, a region with high income inequality–, by modeling log-income variance. Heteroskedastic models can be useful to understand the characteristics of economic inequality in the region, and highlight the variables that can be subject to public policies in order to improve income distribution. We use household surveys datasets produced by these countries' National Statistical Offices, and standardized by the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) project to enhance comparability. The analysis starts with a Variance-Equation-only model for each country to determine betweengroups differences in income variability. A Mean-and-Variance-Equations model is also estimated to cont...
Tesis (Maestria en Estadistica). Universidad de Costa Rica. Sistema de Estudios de Posgrado, 1999
Revista Ensayos Pedagógicos, 2010
Este artículo propone la construcción de un Psicoanálisis a partir de: lo pedagógico, lo curricul... more Este artículo propone la construcción de un Psicoanálisis a partir de: lo pedagógico, lo curricular y lo cultural en cuanto convergen como un proceso institucional en torno a la dinámica de lo inconsciente.
International Journal of Epidemiology, 2020
Population projections at a small area level are sensitive to random departures in temporal trend... more Population projections at a small area level are sensitive to random departures in temporal trends of population change components. In order to have robust trends for the county level projections in Costa Rica, the team in charge of forecasting decided to determine county clusters based on the past trends. In this paper, we compare three descriptive techniques used to build space-time clusters for the Crude Birth Rate CBR: Functional Data Analysis (FDA), the scan statistic, and Geographically Weighted Regression GWR. GWR was the technique that yielded clusters related to the diffusion paradigm for fertility decline. However, the scan statistic provided a more parsimonious set of clusters that are more tractable for population projections.
Rosero, L., Brenes G., Mendez, E. (2009) Obesidad, envejecimiento y mortalidad en Costa Rica. En ... more Rosero, L., Brenes G., Mendez, E. (2009) Obesidad, envejecimiento y mortalidad en Costa Rica. En Pelaez E. (coord.), Sociedad y Adulto Mayor en America Latina. Estudios sobre Envejecimiento en la Region (pp117-137). Brasil: ALAP
Objective: The purpose of the study was to develop normative data for anthropometric, adiposity a... more Objective: The purpose of the study was to develop normative data for anthropometric, adiposity and upper body strength in Costa Rican adults 60 to 110 years old. Method: A representative sample of Costa Rican male and female older adults (n= 2 711) were assessed for body weight and height, knee height, waist, hip and arm circumferences, adiposity, and upper-body strength. The 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles were selected as the normative reference points for each 10-year age groups (60-69, 70-79, 80-89, 90-99, and ≥100). Results: Men and women experience age-related increased adiposity and reductions in upper body strength; however, men increased their upper-body strength at older ages. Conclusion: The normative values allow health professionals to monitor anthropometric, adiposity, and upper-body strength in older adults, and to design comprehensive fitness interventions that promote a healthy lifestyle in the population.
INTRODUCTION: The aging population is becoming significantly large in several countries due to im... more INTRODUCTION: The aging population is becoming significantly large in several countries due to improved health conditions and higher life expectancy. For instance, Costa Rican elderly have 17% less mortality at 90 yr. of age than elderly from high-income countries, and in Costa Rica life expectancy is higher for men than for women. In developed countries such as Spain, a large number of sedentary elderly have been found with elevated body fat percentage, which might impact their overall health and quality of life. Although the international scientific literature is extensive, the physical and functional status of Central American elderly is unknown. PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to construct normative scores for anthropometric, adiposity and upper-arm strength variables in Costa Rican adults aged 60 to 110 yr. METHODS: Participants were 5494 Costa Rican elderly randomly selected from the Costa Rican National Population Census. These participants were assessed to determine th...
Revista Latinoamericana de Población, 2018
(ucr). Su investigación se centra en procesos de envejecimiento en América Latina, mortalidad y s... more (ucr). Su investigación se centra en procesos de envejecimiento en América Latina, mortalidad y salud, y proyecciones de población.
ISSN 2145 6445 (Impreso) ISSN 2215-8758 (En línea) Abstract: Objective. The coverage of pension p... more ISSN 2145 6445 (Impreso) ISSN 2215-8758 (En línea) Abstract: Objective. The coverage of pension plans in Latin America is relatively low and so, people postpone retirement and decide to continue working. The aim of the paper is to analyze the family characteristics that predict the decisions of leaving the job market with or without pension benefits. Methodology. Data from CRELES, a longitudinal survey of the elderly with two cohorts were used. Results and conclusions. Among people aged 55 and older who were working at the baseline, 25% left the labor market, and 9% started receiving retirement money, even though some of them continued working. People who make informal cash transfers to family members are more likely to retire, especially earlier than others. Those who looked after children were more likely to stop working without a formal pension. There was no evidence that the spouse’s working status was related to retirement decisions.
Study of aging and obesity and its effect on mortality and disability in a middle-income country ... more Study of aging and obesity and its effect on mortality and disability in a middle-income country using longitudinal data from the “Costa Rica: Longevity and Healthy Aging Study”. Obesity prevalence is higher among women and it clearly declines with age after about the 70 birthday. The decline comes from generation effects (younger cohorts are less obese) but there is also a genuine effect of weight loss with aging as longitudinal data show. There is a complex relationship between obesity and risk of dying, which increases with body mass and, especially with abdominal girth, but only in individuals younger than 75 approximately. After this age the relationship reverses and body mass is a protective factor against death, which somehow neutralizes the catastrophic effect on life expectancy that some predict from increasing obesity trends. The impact of obesity on disability is clearer than on mortality, although it disappears at very old ages.
Resumen El análisis de secuencias es una nueva técnica estadística utilizada en estudios genético... more Resumen El análisis de secuencias es una nueva técnica estadística utilizada en estudios genéticos y en ingeniería que busca establecer cuáles son las secuencias de even-tos más frecuentes en una cadena de eventos. Se puede utilizar para analizar la serie de morbilidades que enfrenta una persona durante un período de tiem-po, como una forma de investigar la teoría del «uso y desgaste» o «deterioro físi-co» en envejecimiento. Se utilizan los datos de dos encuestas de envejecimiento: CRELES (Costa Rica) y PREHCO (Puerto Rico). En Costa Rica, la hipercolestero-lemia es más letal en comorbilidad que sin la presencia de otras condiciones, mientras que en Puerto Rico, las complicaciones de la diabetes mellitus y de la hipertensión aumentan los riesgos de muerte. El análisis permite ver la impor-tancia de ciertas enfermedades como factores de riesgo de otras enfermedades: la hipertensión y la hipercolesterolemia son factores de riesgo de los infartos o los accidentes cerebovasculares. Pala...
Objective: The goals of this article are to assess the level of preventive service utilization by... more Objective: The goals of this article are to assess the level of preventive service utilization by older persons in Costa Rica and to determine whether there are differentials in utilization across socioeconomic status (SES) and institutional characteristics. Method: Using data from the Costa Rican Study on Longevity and Healthy Aging (CRELES) project, a study of healthy aging in Costa Rica, the authors use self-reported information on preventive service utilization. The SES differentials are studied using logistic regressions. Results: Preventive services linked to cardiovascular disease prevention are frequently utilized; preventive services linked to cancer screening, vaccination, and sense impairments are not so widely used. Higher SES people are more likely to utilize most preventive services. Utilization rates among uninsured seniors are lower than among their insured peers. Home visits by community health workers are positively associated with higher utilization rates. Discussion: The SES disparities in preventive service utilization exist in Costa Rica, and institutional characteristics are positively associated with increasing utilization.