Three Essays on Health Outcomes

This paper explores two topics related to health outcomes in the adult U.S. population. Over the past fifteen years, the United States has seen a decrease in overall health. Two potential reasons behind this deterioration in physical condition are the rise in overweight and obesity, and increases in adverse health outcomes for individuals requiring hospital stays. This research attempts to comprehend the extent to which these two causes are contributors in said health declines. The paper focuses on three aspects of health outcomes: (1) identifying who among the adult U.S. population has been affected by the obesity epidemic; (2) whether employment increases played a role in the rise of obesity in single women; and (3) do increases in nurse staffing reduce adverse health outcomes for the inpatient hospital population.