Influence of health-related quality of life on health service utilization in addition to socio-demographic and morbidity variables among primary care patients in China

Abstract

Health service utilization increased significantly with decreasing HRQOL, and the independent influence of HRQOL on health service utilization was smaller than that of socio-demographic and morbidity variables among primary care patients in mainland China.

Influence of health-related quality of life on health service utilization in Chinese rural-to-urban female migrant workers

“…This finding is consistent with the findings in previous reports on the impact of HRQOL on health service utilization in other study populations [13,23-25,44]. In the USA, Nelson and colleagues reported that physical functioning and mental health were two important predictors of both clinic consultation and hospitalization in patients with chronic diseases [23].…”

“…Dai M et al showed that females might have higher recent two-week morbidity (28.8% vs. 24.9%) and higher chronic disease morbidity (35.5% vs. 32.9%) than males [12]. Hence, optimizing the distribution of health service resources to improve the health of migrant female workers has become a priority for public health policy makers [13]. Rural-to-urban migrants in China have been studied in various aspects including socio-demographics, anthropology and management [14-17].…”

“…HRQOL is an important issue in caring for the elderly [19,20], acute and chronic disease patients [21,22]. The associations between HRQOL and health service utilization have been reported in chronic disease patients [23,24], aging patients with osteoarthritis [25] and primary care patients [13], and healthy individuals [26]. As an underprivileged population group in China, migrant workers suffer a variety of inequalities including long working hours, insecure employment, overcrowded and insalubrious living conditions [6,27].…”

Reviews on the Epidemiology, Quality of Life, and Management of Chronic Hepatitis B (CHB)

“…There were several studies on the association between HRQOL and service utilization for Asian population (T. Chen & Li, 2009; C. L. K. Lam & Fong, 2002;Matsumura, 2000). A study by Matsumura in Japan found that subjects with Short Form-36 (SF-36) physical component summary (PCS) score below 40 were more likely to use outpatient services and to be hospitalized than those who had scores greater than 50 (Matsumura 2000).…”

“…Numerous studies reported on the relationship between HRQOL and service utilization for Western and Asian populations (T. Chen & Li, 2009;Dominick & Ahern, 2004;Ethgen & Kahler, 2002; C. L. K. Lam & Fong, 2002;Matsumura, 2000;Nelson & McHorney, 1998;Parkerson & Gutman, 2000;Singh & Nelson, 2005), but no data were available for CHB patients. More studies are needed to explore the effect of HRQOL on service utilization in patients with CHB.…”