To assess the trend of urban-rural disparities in hospital admissions and medical expenditure between 2003 and 2011 in the context of Chinese health-care system reform. The data were from three different national surveys: the Third National Health Services Survey in 2003, the Fourth National Health Services Survey in 2008 and the national health-care reform phased assessment survey in 2011. There were 151421, 143380 and 48356 respondents aged 15 years or older in 2003, 2008 and 2011, respectively. The health insurance coverage expanded considerably from 27.7% in 2003 to 96.4% in 2011 among respondents aged 15 years or older. Hospitalization rate increased rapidly from 4.1% in 2003 to 9.6% in 2011. Urban respondents had higher hospital admissions than rural respondents, and the RR (95% CI) of hospitalization was 1.23 (1.17–1.30), 1.06 (1.02–1.10) and 1.16 (1.10–1.23) in 2003, 2008 and 2011, respectively. The urban-rural disparity in hospital admissions significantly narrowed over time. Urban respondents had a higher admission rate if insured and a lower admission if not insured than their rural counterparts. Of the six medical expenditure measures, the disparities in reimbursement rate and the proportion of hospitalization direct cost to the total consumer spending significantly narrowed. The health insurance coverage has been continually expanding and health service utilization has been substantially improved. Urban-rural disparities have been narrowed but still exist. Therefore, policy-makers should focus on increasing investment and reimbursement levels, developing a uniform standard health insurance system for urban and rural residents and improving the medical assistance system.

Background: Obesity is regarded as a potential risk factor for atopy. The aim of this study was to assess the associations of obesity with atopic dermatitis, rhinitis, asthma and food allergy in Chinese adults. Methods: Two hundred and sixty six (266) atopic cases in Harbin, China, were identified according to the current Chinese guidelines for the diagnosis of atopic diseases. All cases had a previous diagnosis of atopic disorders (atopic dermatitis, rhinitis, asthma or food allergy) and were positive in one or more allergen specific IgE tests to 16 common allergens in the region. Each case was individually matched to two healthy controls based on their age, sex, and residential regions. All 532 healthy controls were negative in allergen specific IgE tests. The associations of obesity with four atopic disorders were assessed using a conditional logistic regression method. Results: Obesity was significantly associated with the presence of atopic diseases (OR = 3.2, 95% CI: 1.8, 5.7). Males and females had a similar association (OR = 3.1 for males and 3.2 for females). The associations of obesity with atopic dermatitis (OR = 2.7, 95% CI: 1.2, 6.3) and atopic rhinitis (OR = 3.1, 95% CI: 1.1, 8.7) were statistically significant. Although obesity was positively associated with atopic asthma, this association was not statistically significant (OR = 3.4, 95% CI: 0.6, 19.9). The association between obesity and food allergy was weak and not significant (OR = 1.1, 95% CI: 0.4, 3.7). Conclusions: Obesity is positively associated with the presence of atopic diseases in Chinese adults. Specifically, obesity is significantly associated with atopic dermatitis and rhinitis. Our findings warrant further investigation on the causal nature between obesity and atopic diseases and the effect of weight reduction on preventing atopic diseases.

Background: With rapid economic growth and globalization, lifestyle in China has been changing dramatically. This study aimed to describe the male and female adult Chinese population health status. Methods: The Chinese Third National Health Services Survey was conducted in 2003 to collect information about health status and quality of life from randomly selected residents. Of the 193,689 respondents to the survey (response rate 77.8%), 139,831 (69,748 male and 70,083 female) respondents who were 18 years of age or older were analyzed. Results: Among the respondents, fewer males than females rated their overall wellbeing as being poor or very poor (4.8% versus 6.2%), reported illness in the last 2 weeks (14.1% versus 17.4%), presence of physician diagnosed chronic disease (15.0% versus 17.7%) and at least one functional problem in seven items of the quality of life (26.9% versus 32.8%). More males than females were currently smoking (52.4% versus 3.4%) and drank alcohol more than three times per week (16.5% versus 1.1%). Physically inactive rate was similar between males and females (85.8% versus 87.0%). Fewer rural respondents reported chronic disease than urban respondents (13.0% versus 19.9% for males and 15.5% versus 22.8% for females). In all seven items of the quality of life measured, rural respondents reported less problems than urban respondents (26.2% versus 28.7% for males and 32.0% versus 34.7% for females). Conclusion: Males had better health status than females in terms of self-perceived wellbeing, presence of illness, chronic disease, and quality of life. However, smoking and frequent alcohol drinking was more prevalent among males than that among females. In contrast with the social-economic gradient in health commonly found in the literature, the wealthier urban population in China was not found to be healthier than the rural population in terms of physician diagnosed chronic disease.

To assess factors associated with bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women in a longitudinal study, and to examine the relative contribution of lean mass, fat mass, dietary patterns, and years since menopause to BMD. Two hundred and eighty-two postmenopausal women were randomly selected from Hongqi Community Health Center, in Harbin City, China. All participants were followed up from 2009 to 2011. Dietary data were collected using a Food Frequency Questionnaire. BMD of the left hip, the lumbar spine, and the total body, and the body composition were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at baseline and follow-up. Lean mass and fat mass were positively associated with BMD of the spine, hip, and the total body at both baseline and follow-up. The association between fat mass and BMD at the spine at baseline (P = 0.210) and at the spine (P = 0.116) and hip (P = 0.073) in the second year was not statistically significant when height was adjusted. Six dietary patterns were identified but only cereal grains-fruits pattern (P = 0.001 in the spine, P = 0.037 in hip) and milk-root vegetables pattern (P = 0.010 in hip) were associated with BMD of the spine and hip. The linear mixed model of follow-up data showed that lean mass, years since menopause, and age of menophania were the significant determinants of BMD of all sites. Moreover, lean mass was the best determinant of BMD (VIP = 1.936). Lean mass, years since menopause, age of menophania and dietary patterns are the important determinants of BMD of the spine, hip, and the total body. Lean mass is the best determinant of BMD.

Marital status and survival in epithelial ovarian cancer patients: a SEER-based study Marital status and survival in epithelial ovarian cancer patients: a SEER-based study