Regional Differences of Maternal Health Care Utilization in China. (March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tang, Mengsha; Wang, Debin; Hu, Hong; Wang, Guoping; Li, Rongjie
• Is Part Of: Asia-Pacific journal of public health. Volume 27:Number 2(2015:Mar.)
• Page Start: NP1389
• Page End: NP1397
• Publication Date: 2015-03
• Subjects: maternal health care (MHC) -- regional differences -- service utilization -- health services -- MHC-related policies; Public health -- Pacific Area -- Periodicals; Public health -- Asia -- Periodicals; 362.1095
• DOI: 10.1177/1010539513487011
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1010-5395

Abstract

Objective. To describe regional differences in maternal health care (MHC) utilization in China. Study Design . Cross-sectional comparisons of 4 MHC utilization indicators, namely, early (13 weeks within pregnancy) examinations rate (EER), prenatal examination (>4 times) rate (PER), hospital delivery rate (HDR), and postnatal visit (>1 time) rate (PVR), using index of dissimilarity (ID), linear correlation analysis, and geographical mapping. Results . Significant differences existed across regions in all the indicators ( P < .01). All the IDs for rural areas were higher than that for urban areas. The IDs for major regions ranged from 0.01 to 0.27. Linear correlation coefficients between MHC utilization indicators by regions varied from 0.007 to 0.889 (in absolute value, P < .05). Characteristic formats of geographical distribution were found with PER, EER, HDR, and PVR being in "high-plateau, " "low-plateau, " and "shifting" patterns, respectively. Conclusions . There exist substantial regional discrepancies in MHC utilization in China and future MHC-related policies should take account regional context.