Data analysis
We first used descriptive analysis to describe the characteristics of
the study sample. Then multiple logistic regressions were used to
examine the associations of PA with outpatient visit, inpatient
admission, outpatient visit in PHC facilities and inpatient admission
inside counties. Individual and county characteristics were controlled.
Lastly, we compared PA estimates between 2013 and 2018 using a fully
interactive model to examine changes in PA impact, and the Chow test was
used to compare the differences16, 17. Two-sided
p-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Stata
15.0 (Stata Corp LP, College Station, TX, USA) was used to perform all
analyzes.
Results
The characteristics of the study sample are presented in Table 1.
Overall, the majority of rural patients with chronic diseases were
female, aged 60 years or older, married and had a low education level of
primary school or below, consistent with the 2013 and 2018 waves. In
2018, 37.9% of middle-aged 35-59-year-olds in rural areas had chronic
diseases, which was greater than 28.5% in 2013. The majority of rural
patients with chronic diseases were covered by health insurance. We also
presented the characteristics of all rural residents in two waves of
survey (Supplementary file, Table S1).
Table 1. Characteristics of the study sample