Influencing factors of two-week prevalence of not visiting a doctor among ill residents in urban and rural China

Objective To explore influencing factors of two-week prevalence of not visiting a doctor among ill residents in urban and rural China and to provide references for promoting health service utilization in the residents.Methods With multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling,all residents in 3 240 households were selected from 36 counties in 6 provinces across China.Data were collected via a face-to-face household survey using a self-designed questionnaire based on Anderson's behavior model for health service utilization.Chi-square test and binary logistic regression were used in data analyses.Results The two-week disease prevalence rate was 19.9% among the 10 376 respondents with valid information; of the ill respondents,the two-week prevalence of not visiting a doctor was 45.7%; the results of χ² test and logistic regression analysis revealed a higher two-week prevalence rate of not visiting a doctor among the ill residents in urban areas than among those in rural areas (50.7% vs. 38.9%),among the ill males than among the ill females (48.5% vs. 43.6%),and among the ill residents in eastern and western China than among those in central China (50.8% and 52.9% vs. 33.5%).Significantly higher two-week prevalence rate of not visiting a doctor was verified among the ill residents aged 80 years or older (52.1%),with marital status of other than married or single (49.6%),with the education of high school or technical secondary school (51.0%),having per capita annual income of 3 001-5 000 RMB Yuan (52.3%),and taking more than 60 minutes to reach a medical institution at secondary level (57.3%) (P<0.05 for all).Conclusion The influencing factors of two-week prevalence rate of not visiting a doctor among ill residents in urban and rural China include residential area,region of hometown,age,gender,and the time for reaching a medical institution at secondary level; the results suggest that health education should be promoted among residents and health resource should be allocated properly in China.