575239 research-article2015
APHXXX10.1177/1010539515575239Asia-Pacific Journal of Public HealthLi and He
Guest Editorial
Public Health Research in China: Some Recent Findings and Implications
Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 2015, Vol. 27(2S) 4S–6S © 2015 APJPH Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1010539515575239 aph.sagepub.com
Hao Li, PhD and Qiqiang He, PhD
China is an important member in the Asia-Pacific region. Since 1978, China has opened to the outside world and has undergone a series of socioeconomic reforms.1 Over 3 decades, China has become the world’s second largest economic entity and has gained substantial progress in population health.2 Indictors such as life expectancy, morality, and so on, have been greatly improved.3 More responsibilities are expected for China to take for the world, and China has become more and more important in global health.4 There is an increasing need to summarize and disseminate China’s experience in public health, so as to provide implications for the world, especially the developing countries to learn from. Besides, it is also necessary for China to learn from the experience of other countries to better fight health problems home and abroad. In this context, in October 24 to 27, 2013, the 45th Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium of Public Health (APACPH) Conference was held in Wuhan University, China. More than 600 scholars worldwide attended the conference and most of them came from countries within the Asia-Pacific region. In this supplement issue, recent findings in China’s public health are reported in 13 peerreviewed articles. Most of them were presented at the 45th APACPH Conference. A few are invited ones for the significance of their topics. The articles can be further structured into 4 themes.
Women and Children Health There are 4 articles in this theme. The article by Ren and colleagues5 investigated 9 years of disease development among inpatients of women and children in Shenzhen. This study is of special significance, because Shenzhen is China’s first economic zone, which has achieved for years rapid economic prosperity. The findings showed that Shenzhen has increasingly suffered from challenge in women and children health. The study also gives a clue for the need to conduct more research on the association between economic development and human health. The article by Zhang and colleagues6 suggests that maternal passive smoking during pregnancy may lead to earlier age of menarche and shorter cycle lengths in daughters, which calls for further research to verify a new hazard of passive smoking in female adolescent health. The article by Li and colleagues7 reports positive relationship between early sex initiation and subsequent unsafe sexual behaviors and risks among female undergraduates in Wuhan. The article by Cao and colleagues8 further investigated the prevalence and sex-related risk factors of School of Public Health/Global Health Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China Corresponding Author: Qiqiang He, School of Public Health/Global Health Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China. Email: [email protected]
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Li and He
premarital pregnancy and reproductive tract infections among female undergraduates in Wuhan. The 2 articles propose comprehensive early sex health education in young people to reduce sextransmitted diseases.
Disease Burden and Hospitalization Cost There are 4 articles in this theme. The article by Zhang and colleagues9 explored the influencing factors of high direct economic burden in patients with hepatitis B virus–related diseases in Jiangsu province. Drug fee, examination fee, and antiviral therapy were found to be the most influencing factors for outpatients, while hospitalization stay, drug ratio, and patient’s age were the influencing factors for inpatients. The article by Wang and colleagues10 is a 10-year retrospective study which investigated the changing characteristics, component, and the influencing factors of hospitalization cost in a Chinese hospital. Medicine charge, examination charge, and test charge constituted the main sources of total cost. Longer hospital stay, older age, and more times of hospitalization would lead to higher medical cost, and female patients had higher medical cost than male ones. The article by Cao and colleagues11 examined factors influencing the hospitalization costs of inpatients with type 2 diabetes in a Chinese hospital. The costs for patients in Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance were higher than those in New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme. The hospitalization costs were also higher in male and older patients, and in those who stayed more number of days at hospital, had surgeries, had at least one complication, had emergency admissions, and so on. The findings help provide the targeting aspects to be addressed to reduce hospitalization cost. The article by Teng and colleagues12 assessed health status and burden of health care costs among urban elderly in Shanghai, which found that a majority of the elderly in the study sample had chronic diseases and faced high medical expenses. Many of their health care demands had not been sufficiently met for lacking general outpatient coverage in the basic medical insurance scheme.
Health Services Provided There are 2 articles in this theme. The article by Zhang and colleagues13 reported the challenges faced by village doctors in providing basic public health services in Guizhou province. The authors found that heavy workload, poor working conditions, low income, lack of social security, and insufficient cooperation from rural residents constructed the main challenges in delivering basic public health services, which need to be considered by government officials and policy makers for further improvement. The article by Jing and colleagues14 is a preliminary study about factors influencing patients’ contract choice with general practitioners (GPs) in Shanghai. Age, education level, social interaction of social capital, acceptance of first contact in community, year of investigation, and exposure to publicity were found to be the influential factors. The findings are helpful to increase residents’ contract rate with GPs in community health service centers, especially the elderly.
HIV/AIDS, Noise Pollution, and Quality of Life Instrument There are 3 articles in this theme. The article by Yang and colleagues15 reports that the rate of retention in care of the sample of people living with HIV and AIDS in Changsha was 58.1%, which was significantly related to influential factors such as education level, CD4 counts, initiation of antiretroviral therapy, and so on. The findings are helpful to make further improvements. The article by Han and colleagues16 investigated noise pollution and the adverse effect it caused on residents’ health in Luzhou. The noise pollution situation, especially traffic noise in the
Downloaded from aph.sagepub.com by guest on November 14, 2015
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Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 27(2S)
city, is of concern. However, residents pay less attention to it and adopt simple measures to reduce noise. This phenomenon may be very common in China and more studies on prevention and control of traffic noise need to be conducted to arouse the awareness of all sides to reduce the adverse health effects. The article by Fan and colleagues17 validated the psychometric properties of the Coronary Heart Disease Scale of the Quality of Life Instruments for Chronic Diseases among Cantonese patients. Adequate psychometric properties were reported and can be recommended for more applications. References 1. Hou JW. Economic reform of China: cause and effects. Soc Sci J. 2011;3:419-434. 2. The World Bank. GDP ranking. http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/GDP-ranking-table. Accessed February 3, 2015. 3. World Health Organization. World health statistics. http://www.who.int/gho/publications/world_ health_statistics/en/. Accessed February 3, 2015. 4. Liu PL, Guo Y, Qian Xu, et al. China’s distinctive engagement in Global Health. Lancet. 2014;9945: 719-721. 5. Ren N, Zhang J, Huo L, et al. Disease development trends for maternal and child health care in Shenzhen, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:9S-13S. 6. Zhang B, Shi H, Wang Q, et al. Maternal passive smoking during pregnancy and age of menarche in daughters: A study of elementary and middle school students in Shanghai. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:14S-20S. 7. Li J, Li S, Yan H, et al. Early sex initiation and subsequent unsafe sexual behaviors and sex-related risks among female undergraduates in Wuhan, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:21S-29S. 8. Cao Y, Xiao H, Yan H, et al. Prevalence and sex-related risk factors of premarital pregnancy and reproductive tract infections among female undergraduates in Wuhan, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:30S-40S. 9. Zhang H, Chao J, Zhu L, et al. Direct economic burden and influencing factors in patients with hepatitis B virus related diseases in Jiangsu, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:41S-48S. 10. Wang H, Lin X, Zhang Z, et al. The economic burden of inpatients with type 2 diabetes: A case study in a Chinese hospital. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:49S-54S. 11. Cao P, Wang K, Zhang H, et al. Factors influencing the hospitalization costs of patients with type 2 diabetes. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:55S-60S. 12. Teng H, Cao Z, Liu J, et al. Health status and burden of health care costs among urban elderly in China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:61S-68S. 13. Zhang Y, Chen M, Shi X. Challenges of basic public health services provided by village doctors in Guizhou, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:69S-76S. 14. Jing L, Shu Z, Sun X, et al. Factors influencing patients’ contract choice with general practitioners in Shanghai: A preliminary study. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:77S-85S. 15. Yang G, Yan J, Liu Y, et al. Retention in care and factors affecting it among people living with HIV/ AIDS in Changsha city, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:86S-92S. 16. Han ZX, Lei ZH, Zhang CL, et al. Noise monitoring and adverse health effects in residents in different functional areas of Luzhou, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:93S-101S. 17. Fan A, Zhong SQ, Zuo XY, et al. Psychometric properties of the Coronary Heart Disease Scale of the Quality-of-Life Instruments for Chronic Diseases (QLICD-CHD): An application to Cantonese patients. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:101S-111S.
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APHXXX10.1177/1010539515575239Asia-Pacific Journal of Public HealthLi and He
Guest Editorial
Public Health Research in China: Some Recent Findings and Implications
Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 2015, Vol. 27(2S) 4S–6S © 2015 APJPH Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1010539515575239 aph.sagepub.com
Hao Li, PhD and Qiqiang He, PhD
China is an important member in the Asia-Pacific region. Since 1978, China has opened to the outside world and has undergone a series of socioeconomic reforms.1 Over 3 decades, China has become the world’s second largest economic entity and has gained substantial progress in population health.2 Indictors such as life expectancy, morality, and so on, have been greatly improved.3 More responsibilities are expected for China to take for the world, and China has become more and more important in global health.4 There is an increasing need to summarize and disseminate China’s experience in public health, so as to provide implications for the world, especially the developing countries to learn from. Besides, it is also necessary for China to learn from the experience of other countries to better fight health problems home and abroad. In this context, in October 24 to 27, 2013, the 45th Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium of Public Health (APACPH) Conference was held in Wuhan University, China. More than 600 scholars worldwide attended the conference and most of them came from countries within the Asia-Pacific region. In this supplement issue, recent findings in China’s public health are reported in 13 peerreviewed articles. Most of them were presented at the 45th APACPH Conference. A few are invited ones for the significance of their topics. The articles can be further structured into 4 themes.
Women and Children Health There are 4 articles in this theme. The article by Ren and colleagues5 investigated 9 years of disease development among inpatients of women and children in Shenzhen. This study is of special significance, because Shenzhen is China’s first economic zone, which has achieved for years rapid economic prosperity. The findings showed that Shenzhen has increasingly suffered from challenge in women and children health. The study also gives a clue for the need to conduct more research on the association between economic development and human health. The article by Zhang and colleagues6 suggests that maternal passive smoking during pregnancy may lead to earlier age of menarche and shorter cycle lengths in daughters, which calls for further research to verify a new hazard of passive smoking in female adolescent health. The article by Li and colleagues7 reports positive relationship between early sex initiation and subsequent unsafe sexual behaviors and risks among female undergraduates in Wuhan. The article by Cao and colleagues8 further investigated the prevalence and sex-related risk factors of School of Public Health/Global Health Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China Corresponding Author: Qiqiang He, School of Public Health/Global Health Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China. Email: [email protected]
Downloaded from aph.sagepub.com by guest on November 14, 2015
5S
Li and He
premarital pregnancy and reproductive tract infections among female undergraduates in Wuhan. The 2 articles propose comprehensive early sex health education in young people to reduce sextransmitted diseases.
Disease Burden and Hospitalization Cost There are 4 articles in this theme. The article by Zhang and colleagues9 explored the influencing factors of high direct economic burden in patients with hepatitis B virus–related diseases in Jiangsu province. Drug fee, examination fee, and antiviral therapy were found to be the most influencing factors for outpatients, while hospitalization stay, drug ratio, and patient’s age were the influencing factors for inpatients. The article by Wang and colleagues10 is a 10-year retrospective study which investigated the changing characteristics, component, and the influencing factors of hospitalization cost in a Chinese hospital. Medicine charge, examination charge, and test charge constituted the main sources of total cost. Longer hospital stay, older age, and more times of hospitalization would lead to higher medical cost, and female patients had higher medical cost than male ones. The article by Cao and colleagues11 examined factors influencing the hospitalization costs of inpatients with type 2 diabetes in a Chinese hospital. The costs for patients in Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance were higher than those in New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme. The hospitalization costs were also higher in male and older patients, and in those who stayed more number of days at hospital, had surgeries, had at least one complication, had emergency admissions, and so on. The findings help provide the targeting aspects to be addressed to reduce hospitalization cost. The article by Teng and colleagues12 assessed health status and burden of health care costs among urban elderly in Shanghai, which found that a majority of the elderly in the study sample had chronic diseases and faced high medical expenses. Many of their health care demands had not been sufficiently met for lacking general outpatient coverage in the basic medical insurance scheme.
Health Services Provided There are 2 articles in this theme. The article by Zhang and colleagues13 reported the challenges faced by village doctors in providing basic public health services in Guizhou province. The authors found that heavy workload, poor working conditions, low income, lack of social security, and insufficient cooperation from rural residents constructed the main challenges in delivering basic public health services, which need to be considered by government officials and policy makers for further improvement. The article by Jing and colleagues14 is a preliminary study about factors influencing patients’ contract choice with general practitioners (GPs) in Shanghai. Age, education level, social interaction of social capital, acceptance of first contact in community, year of investigation, and exposure to publicity were found to be the influential factors. The findings are helpful to increase residents’ contract rate with GPs in community health service centers, especially the elderly.
HIV/AIDS, Noise Pollution, and Quality of Life Instrument There are 3 articles in this theme. The article by Yang and colleagues15 reports that the rate of retention in care of the sample of people living with HIV and AIDS in Changsha was 58.1%, which was significantly related to influential factors such as education level, CD4 counts, initiation of antiretroviral therapy, and so on. The findings are helpful to make further improvements. The article by Han and colleagues16 investigated noise pollution and the adverse effect it caused on residents’ health in Luzhou. The noise pollution situation, especially traffic noise in the
Downloaded from aph.sagepub.com by guest on November 14, 2015
6S
Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 27(2S)
city, is of concern. However, residents pay less attention to it and adopt simple measures to reduce noise. This phenomenon may be very common in China and more studies on prevention and control of traffic noise need to be conducted to arouse the awareness of all sides to reduce the adverse health effects. The article by Fan and colleagues17 validated the psychometric properties of the Coronary Heart Disease Scale of the Quality of Life Instruments for Chronic Diseases among Cantonese patients. Adequate psychometric properties were reported and can be recommended for more applications. References 1. Hou JW. Economic reform of China: cause and effects. Soc Sci J. 2011;3:419-434. 2. The World Bank. GDP ranking. http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/GDP-ranking-table. Accessed February 3, 2015. 3. World Health Organization. World health statistics. http://www.who.int/gho/publications/world_ health_statistics/en/. Accessed February 3, 2015. 4. Liu PL, Guo Y, Qian Xu, et al. China’s distinctive engagement in Global Health. Lancet. 2014;9945: 719-721. 5. Ren N, Zhang J, Huo L, et al. Disease development trends for maternal and child health care in Shenzhen, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:9S-13S. 6. Zhang B, Shi H, Wang Q, et al. Maternal passive smoking during pregnancy and age of menarche in daughters: A study of elementary and middle school students in Shanghai. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:14S-20S. 7. Li J, Li S, Yan H, et al. Early sex initiation and subsequent unsafe sexual behaviors and sex-related risks among female undergraduates in Wuhan, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:21S-29S. 8. Cao Y, Xiao H, Yan H, et al. Prevalence and sex-related risk factors of premarital pregnancy and reproductive tract infections among female undergraduates in Wuhan, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:30S-40S. 9. Zhang H, Chao J, Zhu L, et al. Direct economic burden and influencing factors in patients with hepatitis B virus related diseases in Jiangsu, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:41S-48S. 10. Wang H, Lin X, Zhang Z, et al. The economic burden of inpatients with type 2 diabetes: A case study in a Chinese hospital. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:49S-54S. 11. Cao P, Wang K, Zhang H, et al. Factors influencing the hospitalization costs of patients with type 2 diabetes. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:55S-60S. 12. Teng H, Cao Z, Liu J, et al. Health status and burden of health care costs among urban elderly in China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:61S-68S. 13. Zhang Y, Chen M, Shi X. Challenges of basic public health services provided by village doctors in Guizhou, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:69S-76S. 14. Jing L, Shu Z, Sun X, et al. Factors influencing patients’ contract choice with general practitioners in Shanghai: A preliminary study. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:77S-85S. 15. Yang G, Yan J, Liu Y, et al. Retention in care and factors affecting it among people living with HIV/ AIDS in Changsha city, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:86S-92S. 16. Han ZX, Lei ZH, Zhang CL, et al. Noise monitoring and adverse health effects in residents in different functional areas of Luzhou, China. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:93S-101S. 17. Fan A, Zhong SQ, Zuo XY, et al. Psychometric properties of the Coronary Heart Disease Scale of the Quality-of-Life Instruments for Chronic Diseases (QLICD-CHD): An application to Cantonese patients. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2015;27:101S-111S.
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