Health service need and health care utilization among residents in endemic fluorosis area in Bijie of Guizhou province

ObjectiveTo investigate health service demands and usage among residents in endemic fluorosis area in Bijie of Guizhou province,and to provide basis for improving the condition of health service in endemic fluorosis areas.MethodsWith a questionnaire survey,information on general characteristics,prevalence of endemic fluorosis,clinical symptoms and signs,and the condition of health demands and usage were collected among 666 residents selected with stratified cluster random sampling in Bijie city of Guizhou province.ResultsThe rates of clinical symptoms and signs of endemic fluorosis were 39.3% (262/666)and 31.2%(208/666),with 245 residents with both clinical symptoms and signs (38.1%).The two-week disease prevalence and chronic disease prevalence in the residents were 38.1%(254/666) and 35.3%(235/666).The residemts of female,at older age,with the education less than one year,and self-reported poor familial economic status had higher rates of fluorosis clinical symptoms and signs than other residents(P<0.05).The rate of visiting doctors within two-week was 63.7 %(163/254).There were no differences in health care utilization among the residents of different gender,age,years of education,family economy,with or without endemic fluorosis clinical symptoms and signs(P>0.05 for all).The main reasons of not visiting doctors were self-treatment(47.3%,43/91),financial difficulty (29.7%,27/91),not feeling urgent enough(20.9%,19/91),and lack of time(4.4%,4/91) among the residents.ConclusionThe prevalence rate of illness was high among residents in Bijie endemic fluorosis areas of Guizhou province and the residents had poor physical health status,high demands of health service,and low health care usage.