Objective  To examine the status and influencing factors of health care seeking at grassroots medical institutions among essential hypertension patients and to provide evidences for promoting the utilization of grassroots health care for hypertension patients and pilot work for diagnosis-related group system.

  Methods  We extracted data on 1 597 hypertensive patients in 8 counties of Jiangsu, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guangdong province from the dataset of National Health Services Survey conducted in 2016 and analyzed the status of health care seeking at grassroots medical institutions and its influencing factors among the hypertension patients.

  Results  Of all the patients surveyed, 38.26% (611) reported health care seeking at grassroots medical institutions. Multivariate unconditional logistic regression analysis revealed that the hypertension patients with the education of middle school or higher, having an annual household income of 40 000 RMB yuan and above, and living in rural areas were less likely to seek health care service at grassroots medical institutions.

  Conclusion  The rate of health care seeking at grassroots medical institutions is low among hypertension patients, especially among those with higher education and household income and those living in rural areas.