A target level of risk model of respiratory pathologies and smoking behaviour

Abstract

Levels of morbidity and healthcare utilization related to respiratory pathologies are correlated, first, with an indicator of the level of risk that individuals are prepared to take, namely their ‘individual target level of risk’, and then secondly with smoking behaviour. The results based on a French survey with a sample of 13 150 individuals show that higher target levels of risk are associated with a higher probability of being ill, with higher levels of tobacco consumption but with lower levels of consumption of preventive medicine. More generally, this article shows how a target level of risk model can be formalized in an economic optimizing approach.