Migration status and healthcare seeking behaviours among the Chinese labor-force: a nationally representative study

Abstract

ObjectivesWe aimed to analyse the healthcare seeking behaviours (HSB) of populations with different migration status and examine the relationship between migration status and HSB.DesignA secondary analysis of cross-sectional data of China Labor-force Dynamics Survey wave 2016, which was conducted by the Sun Yat-sen University every 2 years since 2010.Setting29 provinces/cities/autonomous regions in mainland China, excluding Tibet and Hainan province.Participants3522 respondents in a condition in the previous 2 weeks or during the last 12 months were analysed.Main outcome measuresThe migration status included internal migrants (IMs), returned population, rural residents and urban residents. The HSB including health services utilisation and choice of health facilities for their health services. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to examine the association between migration status and HSB.Results2193 and 1898 of 3522 respondents were in need of outpatient services (having a condition in the previous 2 weeks) or inpatient services (being asked to use the inpatient services during the last 12 months). Compared with urban residents, the returned population (OR=0.66, 95% CIs 0.49 to 0.89) and rural residents (OR=0.65, 95% CIs 0.51 to 0.82) were less likely to have an unmet need for outpatient services. The latter tended to choose lower-level hospitals, while the IMs preferred the lowest-level healthcare facilities for health services. After controlling for confounding factors, the results above did not reach any statistical significance.ConclusionAssociation between migration status and HSB might be through enabling resource and needs. Returned population, IMs and rural residents tended to choose low-level hospitals for their health service needs, but this association was mainly associated with their poorer social and economic resources. Improving their social and economic resources would be helpful for reducing the barriers of HSB.

Does China’s Equalization of Basic Public Health Services policy improve delivery care for migrant women?

“…Last, we explored heterogeneity in the program’s effect by family income because in China, domestic migrants’ health-seeking behaviors are often constrained by the amount of economic resources at their disposal and the cost of health services at the destination city [ 34 ]. We divided the per capita family income into quintiles and estimated the program effect for each quintile.…”

Health service behaviors of migrants: A conceptual framework

“…Similarly, nationality was also associated with the choice of healthcare type or site among immigrants (90,173). Immigration background was not relevant in the choice of sites (174) in the general population in addition to IMs after considering the other confounding factors (175). Some variables are IM-specific factors.…”

Analysis of the Characteristics of Cross-Regional Patient Groups and Differences in Hospital Service Utilization in Beijing

“…In the field of public health, many studies have been performed to explore the characteristics of cross-regional medical groups. Scholars have focused on different disease types among patient groups, such as tumors [ 3 ], rare diseases [ 4 ], or digestive system cancers [ 5 ], and different single-characteristic groups, such as the labor force [ 6 ] or adults [ 7 ], to explore the relationship between patient mobility when seeking treatment and the service utilization of medical resources. They aimed to discover the factors influencing medical mobility when seeking treatment and analyze the statistical characteristics of patients’ cross-regional mobility.…”