Objective  To investigate the situation and influencing factors of clinic visits at primary medical and health institutions among Chinese residents with two-week illness for providing evidence to the intervention on medication seeking behavior of the residents.

  Methods  With multistage random sampling and a self-designed questionnaire, we conducted an online survey among 174 500 urban and rural residents in 31 provincial-level administrative divisions across China during March – April 2019; the data on 7 295 residents attending outpatient clinics within previous two weeks were analyzed. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to explore main influencing factors for the residents' medication seeking behavior.

  Results  Of the 7 295 outpatient clinic attendees, 4 305 (59.0%) reported visiting a doctor in primary medical and health institutions. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the outpatient clinic attendees with following characteristics were less likely to have clinic visits at primary medical and health institutions: being female, having the education of college and above, suffering from chronic disease, being not capable of reaching the nearest primary medical or health institution within 15 minutes by walking, and reporting a fair or better economic status; but those living in central China, with rural household registration, being migrants, participating in basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents, and having alcohol drinking were more likely to seek medication in primary medical and health institutions.

  Conclusion  The proportion of clinic visits at primary medical and health institutions was not high and mainly influenced by gender, education background, living region, household registration, migration status, type of medical insurance, self-reported economic status, alcohol consumption, chronic disease condition, and the time to reach the nearest primary medical and health institution by walking among Chinese residents with two-week illness.