Peking University Researchers Update Knowledge of Public Health (Self-Medication Behaviors of Chinese Residents and Consideration Related to Drug Prices and Medical Insurance Reimbursement When Self-Medicating: A Cross-Sectional Study): Health and Medicine – Public Health

2022 NOV 30 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on public health have been published. According to news reporting out of Beijing, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Self-medication has become a common phenomenon. Economic factors are important factors that affect the self-medication of residents.”

Financial supporters for this research include Annual Project of Shaanxi Provincial Social Science Foundation; National Social Science Foundation of China; Xingliao Outstanding Young Talents Support Program of Liaoning Province; Key Project of Education Department of Liaoning Province.

The news editors obtained a quote from the research from Peking University: “This study aimed to investigate the current status of self-medication behaviors in China and explored the related factors affecting considerations associated with medical insurance reimbursement or drug price in self-medication. A national cross-sectional investigation was conducted among Chinese people over 18 years old under a multi-stage sampling method through a questionnaire, which includes demographic sociological characteristics, self-medication behaviors and scales. The Chi-square test was used to analyze whether the respondents consider medical insurance reimbursement or drug price as an important factor when purchasing over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. Logistic regression was used to examine the associated factors of considering medical insurance reimbursement or drug price. In total, 9256 respondents were included in this study; 37.52% of the respondents regarded drug prices as an important consideration, and 28.53% of the respondents attached great importance to medical insurance reimbursement. Elderly respondents who lived in the central region, had medical insurance, and had lower levels of health literacy were more likely to consider the medical insurance reimbursement, while respondents with high monthly family income as well as students were less likely to consider the same issue (* * p* * < 0.05). Respondents settled in the central and western regions, students, those without fixed occupations, those who suffered from chronic diseases, or those with lower health literacy were more likely to consider drug prices, while the respondents with bachelor degrees, urban population and high per capita monthly income were less likely to consider the drug prices (* * p* * < 0.05).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Self-medication behaviors with OTC drugs were prevalent in China, and consideration factors of medical insurance reimbursement or drug prices were related to socio-demographic characteristics and health literacy. There is a need to take measures to reduce the economic burden of self-medication, improve the health literacy of residents and strengthen public health education.”

For more information on this research see: Self-Medication Behaviors of Chinese Residents and Consideration Related to Drug Prices and Medical Insurance Reimbursement When Self-Medicating: A Cross-Sectional Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022,19(13754):13754. (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph). The publisher for International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is MDPI AG.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192113754.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Ziwei Zhang, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Pu Ge, Mengyao Yan, Yuyao Niu, Diyue Liu, Ping Xiong, Qiyu Li, Jinzi Zhang, Wenli Yu, Xinying Sun, Zhizhong Liu, Yibo Wu.

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