Whither the roads lead to? estimating association between urbanization and primary healthcare service use with Chinese prefecture-level data in 2014
With the rapid economic development across China over recent decades, examining how urbanization may affect healthcare service use and its implications is more than urgent. This study estimates the association between urbanization and primary healthcare services use in China. We construct a prefectu...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2020
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60944/ |
| _version_ | 1848799824046981120 |
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| author | Fang, Xiangming Nong, Sheng Chen, Zhuo |
| author_facet | Fang, Xiangming Nong, Sheng Chen, Zhuo |
| author_sort | Fang, Xiangming |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | With the rapid economic development across China over recent decades, examining how urbanization may affect healthcare service use and its implications is more than urgent. This study estimates the association between urbanization and primary healthcare services use in China. We construct a prefecture-level dataset on healthcare services utilization and urbanization. We regress the proportion of residents using healthcare services in primary healthcare centers versus secondary or tertiary hospitals on a set of prefecture-level control variables. Results suggest that use of primary healthcare centers outpatient service is positively associated with being in the proximity of a provincial capital, but negatively correlated with the percentage of the urban population and the availability of public transportation. Higher likelihood of seeking care in major hospitals instead of primary healthcare centers is associated with urbanization, justifying a need for primary care physicians as gatekeepers in China’s healthcare delivery system. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:41:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-60944 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:41:48Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-609442020-06-22T02:22:35Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60944/ Whither the roads lead to? estimating association between urbanization and primary healthcare service use with Chinese prefecture-level data in 2014 Fang, Xiangming Nong, Sheng Chen, Zhuo With the rapid economic development across China over recent decades, examining how urbanization may affect healthcare service use and its implications is more than urgent. This study estimates the association between urbanization and primary healthcare services use in China. We construct a prefecture-level dataset on healthcare services utilization and urbanization. We regress the proportion of residents using healthcare services in primary healthcare centers versus secondary or tertiary hospitals on a set of prefecture-level control variables. Results suggest that use of primary healthcare centers outpatient service is positively associated with being in the proximity of a provincial capital, but negatively correlated with the percentage of the urban population and the availability of public transportation. Higher likelihood of seeking care in major hospitals instead of primary healthcare centers is associated with urbanization, justifying a need for primary care physicians as gatekeepers in China’s healthcare delivery system. 2020-06-03 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60944/1/journal.pone.0234081.pdf Fang, Xiangming, Nong, Sheng and Chen, Zhuo (2020) Whither the roads lead to? estimating association between urbanization and primary healthcare service use with Chinese prefecture-level data in 2014. PLOS ONE, 15 (6). e0234081. ISSN 1932-6203 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234081 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0234081 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0234081 |
| spellingShingle | Fang, Xiangming Nong, Sheng Chen, Zhuo Whither the roads lead to? estimating association between urbanization and primary healthcare service use with Chinese prefecture-level data in 2014 |
| title | Whither the roads lead to? estimating association between urbanization and primary healthcare service use with Chinese prefecture-level data in 2014 |
| title_full | Whither the roads lead to? estimating association between urbanization and primary healthcare service use with Chinese prefecture-level data in 2014 |
| title_fullStr | Whither the roads lead to? estimating association between urbanization and primary healthcare service use with Chinese prefecture-level data in 2014 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Whither the roads lead to? estimating association between urbanization and primary healthcare service use with Chinese prefecture-level data in 2014 |
| title_short | Whither the roads lead to? estimating association between urbanization and primary healthcare service use with Chinese prefecture-level data in 2014 |
| title_sort | whither the roads lead to? estimating association between urbanization and primary healthcare service use with chinese prefecture-level data in 2014 |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60944/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60944/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/60944/ |