Yu Fang

Bio: Yu Fang is an academic researcher from Xi'an Jiaotong University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Rural area & Public health. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 31 citations.

Assessing Income-Related Health Inequality and Horizontal Inequity in China

Abstract: The study aims to investigate both income-related health inequality and horizontal equity in urban and rural China. The 4th and 5th National Health Services Survey, and extended samples in Shaanxi Province surveyed in 2008 and 2013, were analysed. Health outcome was measured using the EQ-5D-3L utility, scored by the Chinese-specific tariff. The concentration index was calculated to measure the degree of income-related health inequality and was further decomposed to study the strength of different contributing factors to explain health inequality. The horizontal inequity was further measured based on the decomposition results. The final study sample consists of 15,505 respondents in 2008 and 48,808 respondents in 2013. Descriptive analysis shows that compared to 2008, respondents in both urban and rural China reported worse HRQoL in 2013. There was a pro-rich inequality of HRQoL in both urban and rural China. Controlling for demographic factors, the pro-rich inequity of HRQoL remains. Economic and educational statuses are found to be two key factors explaining the pro-rich inequity. The establishment of basic medical insurance has shown a mixed effect on reducing health inequality. Strategies to reduce the inequality of residents’ economic and educational status, through further implementing the poverty reduction policies, should be prioritised by the local government.

Comparing the effects of China’s three basic health insurance schemes on the equity of health-related quality of life: using the method of coarsened exact matching

Abstract: China has three basic health insurance schemes: Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI), Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URBMI) and New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NRCMS). This study aimed to compare the equity of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of residents under any two of the schemes. Using data from the 5th National Health Services Survey of Shaanxi Province, China, coarsened exact matching method was employed to control confounding factors. We included a matched sample of 6802 respondents between UEBMI and URBMI, 34,169 respondents between UEBMI and NRCMS, and 36,928 respondents between URBMI and NRCMS. HRQoL was measured by EQ-5D-3L based on the Chinese-specific value set. Concentration index was adopted to assess health inequality and was decomposed into its contributing factors to explain health inequality. After matching, the horizontal inequity indexes were 0.0036 and 0.0045 in UEBMI and URBMI, 0.0035 and 0.0058 in UEBMI and NRCMS, and 0.0053 and 0.0052 in URBMI and NRCMS respectively, which were mainly explained by age, educational and economic statuses. The findings demonstrated the pro-rich health inequity was much higher for the rural scheme than that for the urban ones. This study highlights the need to consolidate all three schemes by administrating uniformly, merging funds pooling and benefit packages. Based on the contributing factors, strategies aim to facilitate health conditions of the elderly, narrow economic gap, and reduce educational inequity, are essential. This study will provide evidence-based strategies on consolidating the fragmented health schemes towards reducing health inequity in both China and other developing countries.

Influencing factors of inequity in health services utilization among the elderly in China.

Abstract: With the rise of the aging population, it is particularly important for health services to be used fairly and reasonably in the elderly. This study aimed to assess the present inequality and horizontal inequity for health service use among the elderly in China and to identify the main determinants associated with the disparity. This cross-sectional study was based on the sample of the survey of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) for 2015. The elderly was defined as individuals aged 60 and above, with a total of 7836 participants. We used the concentration index (CI) and the horizontal inequity (HI) to measure the inequity of the utilization of health services. The method of concentration index decomposition was utilized to measure the contribution of various influential factors to the overall unfairness. The CI for the probability and the frequency of outpatient use were 0.1102 and 0.1015, respectively, and the corresponding values of inpatient use were 0.2777 and 0.2980, respectively. The household consumption expenditure disparity was the greatest inequality factor favoring the better-off. The Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance made a pro-wealth contribution to inequality in frequency of health services utilization (17.58% for outpatient and 13.40% for inpatient). The contributions of New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme on reducing unfairness in inpatient use were limited (− 2.23% for probability of inpatient use and − 5.89% for frequency of inpatient use). There was a strong pro-rich inequality in both the probability and the frequency of use for health services among the elderly in China. The medical insurance was not enough to address this inequity, and different medical insurance schemes had different effects on the unfairness of health service utilization.

Urban-rural difference in the associations between living arrangements and the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of the elderly in China—Evidence from Shaanxi province

Abstract: Background So far limited evidence exist comparing the difference between urban and rural elder residents in relation to how living arrangements correlates to health-related quality of life(HRQOL) of the elderly Objective This study aims to compare the HRQOL of the elderly with four living arrangements: living with spouse only (LS), living alone (LA), living with a spouse and adult children(LSC) and the single elderly living with adult children (SLC) in urban and rural areas of China Methods The data were drawn from the 2013 wave of Chinese National Health Service Survey in Shaanxi Province, which included 11,729 elderly people The Chinese version of the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire was used to measure the HRQOL Tobit regression model and logistic regression models were employed to estimate the associations between living arrangements and the HRQOL of the elderly Results The EQ-5D utility scores of the urban elderly with four different living arrangements (LS, LA,LSC and SLC) were 09141, 08392, 08176 and 09080, which were almost all higher than their rural counterparts After controlling other confounding variables, tobit regression estimates showed that the EQ-5D utility scores of the single elderly either living alone or living with adult children were lower than the elderly living with a spouse in urban areas In rural areas only the single elderly living with adult children were more disadvantaged Additionally the logistic regression results showed living-alone elderly had worse psychological health and the single elderly living with adult children had worse physical health Conclusion The findings suggest that the urban elderly have better HRQOL than the rural elderly and the elderly with different living arrangements in urban and rural area have different HRQOL More attention should be given to the poor mental health of the elderly living alone and the worse physical health of the single elderly living with adult children

Scoring the Child Health Utility 9D instrument: estimation of a Chinese child and adolescent-specific tariff.

Abstract: To derive children and adolescents’ preferences for health states defined by the Chinese version of Child Health Utility 9D (CHU9D-CHN) instrument in China that can be used to estimate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) for economic evaluation. A profile case best–worst scaling (BWS) and a time trade-off (TTO) method were combined to derive a Chinese-specific tariff for the CHU9D-CHN. The BWS survey recruited students from primary and high schools using a multi-stage random sampling method and was administered in a classroom setting, whilst the TTO survey adopted an interviewer-administrated conventional TTO task and was administered to a convenience sample of undergraduate students. A latent class modelling framework was adopted for analysing the BWS data. Two independent surveys were conducted in Nanjing, China, including a valid sample of 902 students (mean age 13 years) from the BWS survey and a valid sample of 38 students (mean age 18 years) from the TTO survey. The poolability of the best and the worst responses was rejected and the optimal result based on the best responses only. The optimal model suggests the existence of two latent classes. The BWS estimates were further re-anchored onto the QALY scale using the TTO generated health state values via a mapping approach. This study provides further insights into the use of the BWS method to generate health state values with young people and highlights the potential different decision rules that young people may employ for determining best vs. worst choices in this context.