title: Illness and medical and other expenditures: observations from western and eastern China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Illness and the medical expenditure that follows have a profound impact on the well-being of individuals and households. China is a huge country with significant regional differences. The goal of this study is to investigate the associations of illness and medical expenditure with other categories of household expenditures, with special attention paid to the differences in observations between the western and eastern regions.
  
  
  METHODS
  A survey was conducted in six major cities in China, three in the east and three in the west, in 2011. Data on demographics, illness conditions, and medical and other expenditures were collected from 12,515 households.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the analysis of the associations of illness conditions and medical expenditure with demographics, multiple significant associations were observed, and there are differences between the eastern and western regions. In univariate analyses, illness conditions and medical expenditure were found as having significant associations with other categories of expenditures. In multivariate analyses adjusting for household and household head characteristics, few associations were observed, and there exist differences between the regions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study has provided empirical evidence on the associations of illness/medical expenditure with demographics and with other categories of expenditures. Differences across regions were observed in multiple aspects. The reasons underlying such differences are worth investigating further.
authors: Department of Economics, School of Economics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China. jzhang1@xmu.edu.cn.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Statistics, School of Economics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China. 025674@mail.fju.edu.tw.|Department of Statistics and Information Science, FuJen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan. 025674@mail.fju.edu.tw.
authors: Benchang
authors: B
authors: Shia
authors: Department of Statistics, School of Economics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China. denise.huangdi.yi@gmail.com.
authors: Huangdi
authors: H
authors: Yi
authors: Department of Statistics, School of Economics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China. shuangge.ma@yale.edu.|Department of Statistics and Information Science, FuJen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan. shuangge.ma@yale.edu.|Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Yale University, 60 College ST, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA. shuangge.ma@yale.edu.
authors: Shuangge
authors: S
authors: Ma
authors: Humanities and Social Science College, Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, 19 Qingyuan North Rd, Daxing, Beijing, 102617, China. machi.bipt@gmail.com.
authors: Chi
authors: C
authors: Ma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004467:Economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult