The differences in socioeconomic status (SES) will cause a disparity in the health of the elderly. Taking diabetes as an example, previous studies have focused on risk factors of diabetes, while the relationship and mechanism between SES, multi-faceted factors, and the health of older patients with diabetes are not well-understood. This study aims to investigate the association between SES and health in older patients with diabetes and the interrelated mediators between them. Based on the data of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) in 2018, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test whether physical exercise, social interaction, access to care, and community service mediated the effect of SES on the health in older patients with diabetes. We found support for the model in which SES predicted the health in older patients with diabetes (comparative fit index = 0.910, incremental fit index = 0.911, goodness-of-fit index = 0.982, adjusted goodness-of-fit index = 0.959, standardized root mean square residual = 0.037, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.061). The total indirect effect of SES on the health accounted for 55.52% of the total effect. Results indicated that physical exercise (β = 0.108, p < 0.01), social interaction (β = 0.253, p < 0.001), and community service (β = 0.111, p < 0.001) had significant positive effects on the health of older patients with diabetes. SES was positively associated with physical exercise (β = 0.417, p < 0.001) and community service (β = 0.126, p < 0.01). Although no direct effect of SES on the health was found, SES mediated the positive effect in their relationship by physical exercise (indirect effect = 0.045, p < 0.01), and community service (indirect effect = 0.014, p < 0.05). This study showed the health disparities of older patients with diabetes were influenced by individual-level (physical exercise, social interaction) and environmental-level (community service). It suggests that a lack of physical exercise and health-related community service may impair the health of older patients with diabetes with low SES, which recommends individuals' positive actions and environmental supports for promoting health of regarding population.
Abstract Background Despite there is growing evidence focusing on health inequalities in China, socioeconomic inequalities in cognitive impairment among older adults have received little attention. This study aims to measure socioeconomic inequalities in cognitive impairment among Chinese older adults, and determine the contributing social factors to the inequalities. Methods A cross-sectional analysis was performed using data from the 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), a total of 10556 older adults aged 65 and over were included in the study. The prevalence of cognitive impairment was measured by using the Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination. The socioeconomic inequalities in cognitive impairment were illustrated and quantified by the concentration curve and normalized concentration index. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to identify the associated factors of cognitive impairment. And decomposition analysis was further applied to decompose the contribution of each determinant to the observed inequalities in cognitive impairment. Results The study indicated that the prevalence of cognitive impairment among Chinese older adults was 18.95%. The overall concentration index for cognitive impairment was − 0.046, which suggested a higher concentration of cognitive impairment among socioeconomically disadvantaged older adults. The results showed the prevalence of cognitive impairment was associated with sex, age, marital status, education level, occupation, economic status, emotional support, financial support, living arrangement, and participation in informal activities. Decomposition results further revealed the contributions of the determinants to the inequalities in cognitive impairment. Specifically, age (131.61%), marital status (85.68%), emotional support (84.85%), education level (39.73%), occupation (21.24%), sex (17.25%), financial support (− 4.19%), economic status (1.02%), living arrangement (0.88%), and informal activities (0.30%) have varying degrees of contributions to the inequality in cognitive impairment. Conclusion This study sheds light on the pro-rich inequality in cognitive impairment among older adults in China. It suggests that policymakers should pay more attention to older adults who are female, old-old, widowed, illiterate, economically disadvantaged, have no social support, and are less socially involved. Also, more targeted interventions should be undertaken to improve the socioeconomic conditions of these vulnerable individuals and their ability to cope with the risk of cognitive impairment.
Since expanding the use of appropriate and effective health technologies will greatly benefit the diagnosis and treatment of some major diseases at an early stage, understanding the mechanism of technology use is crucial for its successful implementation. Few previous studies focused on the healthcare providers and involved multi-facets factors at individual, technical, organizational, and environmental levels.To examine the influencing mechanism of technology use among Chinese physicians by integrating multilevel factors, Des-gamma-Carboxy Prothrombin (DCP) was taken as an example.Through multistage random sampling, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among physicians in charge of direct use of DCP of sampled secondary and tertiary hospitals. Since the sample data comprised two hierarchical levels (physicians and hospitals), multilevel structural equation modeling was used to link five aspects of factors with physicians' technology use and estimate the effects.Totally, 229 physicians completed the investigation. The use of DCP appears to be at a relatively low level. Intra-class coefficients of the null model (unadjusted baseline model) suggested that physicians' DCP use has a significant variation between hospitals. The final model identified that value cognition (B = 0.447, P < 0.01), experienced organizational practice (B = 0.203, P < 0.05), and perceived organizational atmosphere (B = -0.237, P < 0.01) contributed directly to physicians' DCP use. Additionally, technical assessment, perceived organizational atmosphere, and perceived environmental pressure had indirect impacts on physicians' DCP use that were mediated by value cognition and experienced organizational practice (P < 0.05).This study incorporated and determined the significant direct or indirect role of value cognition, technical assessment, experienced organizational practice, perceived organizational atmosphere, and perceived environmental pressure. This influencing mechanism with integrated multilevel factors could serve as a theoretical basis for tailoring interventions to promote technology use among Chinese physicians.
Promoting technology diffusion and utilization is a key measure to address the great disparity in technical capacity within integrated health systems. However, even the effectiveness and appropriateness regarding technology has been widely recognized, its diffusion and utilization are still stagnant. The mechanisms that influence the technology from being recognized to being widely applied in practice remain largely unknown.
With inappropriate use of antimicrobials becoming a great public health concern globally, the issue of applying clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) to regulate the rational use of antimicrobials has attracted increasing attention. Taking tertiary general hospitals in China for example, this study aimed to identify factors to investigate the comprehensive influencing mechanism for physicians' intention to use CPGs on antimicrobials.Based on the integration of Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and Technology-Organization-Environment framework (TOE), a questionnaire survey was conducted covering potential determinants of affecting physicians' intentions to use CPGs on antimicrobials at the individual level (attitude, subjective norms and perceived risk), technical level (relative advantage and ease of use), and organizational level (top management support and organizational implementation). Data were collected from 644 physicians in tertiary general hospitals in eastern, central and western China, which were obtained by multi-stage random sampling. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to link three-level factors with physicians' behavioral intentions.The majority of the participants (94.57%) showed a positive tendency toward intention to use CPGs on antimicrobials. The reliability and validity analysis showed the questionnaire developed from the theoretical model was acceptable. SEM results revealed physicians' intentions to use CPGs on antimicrobials was associated with attitude (β = 0.166, p < 0.05), subjective norms (β = 0.244, p < 0.05), perceived risk (β = - 0.113, p < 0.05), relative advantage (β = 0.307, p < 0.01), top management support (β = 0.200, p < 0.05) and organizational implementation (β = 0.176, p < 0.05). Besides, subjective norms, perceived risk, relative advantage, ease of use, and top management support showed their mediating effects from large to small on the intentions, which were 0.215, 0.140, 0.103, 0.088, - 0.020, respectively.This study revealed the significance of multifaceted factors to enhance the intention to use CPGs on antimicrobials. These findings will not only contribute to the development of targeted intervention strategies on promoting the use of CPGs on antimicrobials, but also provide insights for future studies about physicians' adoption behaviors on certain health services or products.
Liver cancer is a globally acknowledged threat to public health, and there is a critical and urgent need to determine factors associated with the use of liver cancer screening and to further promote its use.To examine whether the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) incorporating social norms predicts physicians' intentions to use liver cancer screening and to identify the associated factors quantitatively, using contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) as an example.A research framework was established by adding social norms to the TPB, based on which the questionnaire for this study was developed. Through multistage random sampling, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 292 physicians in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces. Due to the multicollinearity problem of the data, ridge regression was applied to determine the influencing factors of physicians' intentions to use CEUS.Most participants (87.30%) reported that they were willing to use liver cancer screening in their clinical practice. The scores of TPB variables were generally higher than those of social norms variables. Ridge regression results indicated that the proposed model was explanatory, which has accounted for 73.5% of the total variance in physicians' intentions. Analyses also illustrated the significant role of TPB variables (attitude and perceived behavioral control) and social norms variables (personal norms, organizational norms, and industrial norms) on physicians' intentions to use CEUS.The study extended the TPB by including the concepts of social norms, which is not only conducive to expanding the knowledge of factors associated with physicians' intentions to use liver cancer screening, but also provides implications for developing strategies to promote the use of certain health services or products, such as playing the role of core members, holding panel meetings, and establishing information push systems.
Liver cancer is one of the malignant tumors worldwide, while the prevention and control situation is grim at present, and the diffusion of its early screening technology still faces some challenges. This study aims to investigate the influencing mechanism of perceived ease of use, organizational support mechanism, and industry competitive pressure on hepatic early screening technologies use by physicians, so as to promote the wider use of corresponding technologies.Under the theoretical guidance of technology-organization-environment framework and mindsponge theory, this study took hepatic contrast-enhanced ultrasound as an example, and conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire by randomly selecting physicians from Fujian and Jiangxi provinces in China with a high and low incidence of liver cancer, respectively. Structural equation modeling was used to determine the correlation among perceived ease of use, organizational support mechanism, and industry competitive pressure, as well as their impact on the physicians' behavior toward contrast-enhanced ultrasound use.The hypothesis model fits well with the data (χ2/df = 1.863, GFI = 0.937, AGFI = 0.908, RMSEA = 0.054, NFI = 0.959, IFI = 0.980, CFI = 0.980). Under technology-organization-environment framework, the perceived ease of use (β = 0.171, p < 0.05), organizational support mechanism (β = 0.423, p < 0.01), industry competitive pressure (β = 0.159, p < 0.05) significantly influenced physicians' use of hepatic contrast-enhanced ultrasound. Besides, perceived ease of use and organizational support mechanism (β = 0.216, p < 0.01), perceived ease of use and industry competitive pressure (β = 0.671, p < 0.01), organizational support mechanism and industry competitive pressure (β = 0.330, p < 0.01) were all associated significantly.From the lens of information processing (mindsponge theory) and technology-organization-environment framework, this study clarified the social and psychological influencing mechanism of perceived ease of use, organizational support mechanism, and industry competitive pressure on physicians' use of hepatic contrast-enhanced ultrasound. The results will directly propose recommendations for expanding hepatic contrast-enhanced ultrasound utilization and indirectly promoting other appropriate and effective health technologies diffusion within the integrated health system.
This paper took 215 samples along the Guangzhou metro line 2 as an example to research the impact of urban rail system on realty rental prices. Method of hedonic price model was employed to calculate the range of subway influencing the surrounding reality rental. Three conclusions can be drawn up: 1) Metro has no influence on the samples of the central zone, while it contributes to surrounding realty rental prices increment of the peripheral area; 2) For the peripheral area, rental houses are influenced within 1.5 km. Realty rental prices have a significantly positive correlation with the distance of rental house away from the nearest subway station; 3) Average appreciation rate of monthly rents in the impact range reaches to 52.37%. Furthermore, residential monthly rents of house within 0.5 km, 0.5 - 1 km, and 1 - 1.5 km of subway stations are separately 56.9%, 49.2%, and 51% higher than monthly rents of houses located outside the affected area. Based on the result above, several points of tactic advice to generate higher return in rentals for investors and to rent a proper house for tenants have been put forward.
Abstract BackgroundDespite there is growing evidence focusing on health inequalities in China, socioeconomic inequalities in cognitive impairment among older adults have received little attention. This study aims to measure socioeconomic inequalities in cognitive impairment among Chinese older adults, and determine the contributing social factors to the inequalities.MethodsA cross-sectional analysis was performed using data from the 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), a total of 10556 older adults aged 65 and over were included in the study. The prevalence of cognitive impairment was measured by using the Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination. The socioeconomic inequalities in cognitive impairment were illustrated and quantified by the concentration curve and normalized concentration index. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to identify the associated factors of cognitive impairment. And decomposition analysis was further applied to decompose the contribution of each determinant to the observed inequalities in cognitive impairment.ResultsThe study indicated that the prevalence of cognitive impairment among Chinese older adults was 18.95%. The overall concentration index for cognitive impairment was − 0.046, which suggested a higher concentration of cognitive impairment among socioeconomically disadvantaged older adults. The results showed the prevalence of cognitive impairment was associated with sex, age, marital status, education level, occupation, economic status, emotional support, financial support, living arrangement, and participation in informal activities. Decomposition results further revealed the contributions of the determinants to the inequalities in cognitive impairment. Specifically, age (131.61%), marital status (85.68%), emotional support (84.85%), education level (39.73%), occupation (21.24%), sex (17.25%), financial support (− 4.19%), economic status (1.02%), living arrangement (0.88%), and informal activities (0.30%) have varying degrees of contributions to the inequality in cognitive impairment.ConclusionThis study sheds light on the pro-rich inequality in cognitive impairment among older adults in China. It suggests that policymakers should pay more attention to older adults who are female, old-old, widowed, illiterate, economically disadvantaged, have no social support, and are less socially involved. Also, more targeted interventions should be undertaken to improve the socioeconomic conditions of these vulnerable individuals and their ability to cope with the risk of cognitive impairment.
Abstract Background: Nowadays, irrational use of antimicrobials has threatened public health. It’s necessary to expanding the use of clinical practice guideline (CPG) on antimicrobial for facilitating the proper use of antimicrobial. However, the utilization status of CPG on antimicrobial and the influencing factors are largely unknown. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted, using a structured questionnaire, on a sample among physicians from 16 public hospitals in eastern, central and western part of China. A multilevel regression model was employed to examine factors associated with physicians’ utilization of CPG on antimicrobial. Results: A total of 815 physicians included in this study. About eighty percent of the surveyed physicians reported their strict adherence to the CPG on antimicrobial. Dimensions of “subjective norm”, “perceived risk” and “behavioral intention” from the domain of physician belief, dimension of “ease of use” from the domain of CPG traits, and dimensions of “top management support” and “organization & implementation” from the domain of hospital practice were significantly associated with physicians’ utilization of CPG on antimicrobial. And most demographics of physician were not found to be significantly related to the CPG use. In addition, results showed region is a significant factor affecting physicians’ CPG use. Conclusions: This study depicted the current status of CPG on antimicrobial and comprehensively identified its potential determinants not only from the three domains, such as physician belief, at the individual level, but also from the location region at the organizational level. The results will provide direct reference on implementation of CPG on antimicrobial and will be generalizable to the setting of health care system.