title: Regional differences of maternal health care utilization in China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe regional differences in maternal health care (MHC) utilization in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional comparisons of 4 MHC utilization indicators, namely, early (13 weeks within pregnancy) examinations rate (EER), prenatal examination (>4 times) rate (PER), hospital delivery rate (HDR), and postnatal visit (>1 time) rate (PVR), using index of dissimilarity (ID), linear correlation analysis, and geographical mapping.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant differences existed across regions in all the indicators (P < .01). All the IDs for rural areas were higher than that for urban areas. The IDs for major regions ranged from 0.01 to 0.27. Linear correlation coefficients between MHC utilization indicators by regions varied from 0.007 to 0.889 (in absolute value, P < .05). Characteristic formats of geographical distribution were found with PER, EER, HDR, and PVR being in "high-plateau," "low-plateau," and "shifting" patterns, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There exist substantial regional discrepancies in MHC utilization in China and future MHC-related policies should take account regional context.
authors.affiliation: Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China.
authors.forename: Mengsha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China 529703049@qq.com.
authors.forename: Debin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China.
authors.forename: Guoping
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Rongjie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: MHC-related policies; health services; maternal health care (MHC); regional differences; service utilization