Objective  To examine gender differences in the utilization of medical services and in hospitalization expenses and the cost composition and their associates among lung cancer inpatients in China for improving the gender inequality in health care and reducing medical cost of lung cancer patients.

  Methods  Home pages of medical records on 1 408 881 lung cancer patients (male: 66.98%, female: 33.02%) hospitalized in 2017 were collected from the Statistical Information Center of the National Health Commission. Descriptive statistical methods were used to analyze gender differences in the inpatients′ amounts and composition of hospitalization cost and medical service utilization.

  Results  For all the inpatients surveyed, the person times of hospitalizations in secondary hospitals were 167.51 thousands for male patients and 73.92 thousands for the females, with a male-to-female ratio of 2.27; while, the male-to-female ratio of person times of hospitalization in tertiary hospitals was 1.98 (776.21 vs. 391.23 thousands). The average duration of hospitalizations in secondary hospitals was 12.14 days for male patients and 11.77 days for the females, with a male-to-female ratio of 1.03; the male-to-female ratio of person times of hospitalization in tertiary hospitals was 1.07. The average cost of the hospitalizations in secondary hospitals was 10 074.41 Yuan (RMB) for male patients and 9 816.87 Yuan for the females, with a male-to-female ratio of 1.03; the male-to-female ratio was 0.92 for average cost of hospitalizations in tertiary hospitals (19 061.26 Yuan vs. 20 708.78 Yuan). Drug cost was the main component of the hospitalization cost of the inpatients.

  Conclusion  In China, there are significant gender differences in the utilization of medical services and hospitalization expenses among lung cancer inpatients and the medical service utilization is inadequate among female inpatients; the gender differences are influenced mainly by social factors, health concepts and physiological factors.