Behavior and cost of medication among diarrhea patients in Guangxi

Objective To investigate medication behavior and cost of diarrhea cases in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.Methods Diarrhea cases were searched fromurban and rural residents in two high prevalence areas of diarrhea disease-Liuzhou city and Luocheng county.Then,the medication behavior and cost of the diarrhea patients were investigated Data was analyzed with SPSS.Results The rate of visiting a doctor for diarrhea medication was 28.28%(125/442).50.91%(225/442) of patients purchased drugs from drugstores and treated them selves at home 20.81%(92/442) of patients did nothing for their diseases Most of the patients visited village/private clinics and town/community hospitals.The visiting rate was higher in winter than in summer(P<0.001)，and was higher in children below 5 year old.The median cost of medication for all patients was 41 RMB yuan For outpatients,inpatients,patients visiting village/private clinics,patients visiting town/community hospitals and patients visiting county or higher level hospitals,the average costs were 40,533.5,20,99.5 and 100 RMB yuan,respectively.The average cost of patients treated them selves at home was 3 RMB yuan.Conclusion Diarrhea cases mostly visited basic medical facilities,and the rate of visiting a doctor was very low,but the costwas not love.Measures should be taken to help diarrhea patient get corrector edication.There were significant differences in medication cost between patients visiting a doctor and treating them selves and between patients getting different kinds of medication in hospitals or clinics.