title: Health service utilisation of rural-to-urban migrants in Guangzhou, China: does employment status matter?
abstract: To describe the self-reported health status and service utilisation of employed, retired and unemployed migrants in Guangzhou, a megacity in southern China.
  
  
  
  A cross-sectional study adapted from the National Health Service Survey was conducted between September and December in 2014. Based on the distribution of occupation of migrants, multistage sampling was used to recruit individuals. Logistic regression was applied to explore the factors influencing their service utilisation.
  
  
  
  Of 2906 respondents, 76.6% were employed, 9.2% retired and 14.2% unemployed. Only 8.1% reported having an illness in the previous 2 weeks, and 6.5% reported having been hospitalised in the previous year. Employed migrants had the lowest recent physician consultation rate (3.4%) and the lowest annual hospitalisation rate (4.5%) (P < 0.05); unemployed migrants had the highest rates (6.8% and 14.5% respectively, P < 0.05). Retired migrants were more likely to return to their hometown for health care (8.6%) than employed (1.5%) and unemployed migrants (3.4%) (P < 0.05). After adjusting for age and gender, employment status remained significant in explaining the recent two-week treatment-seeking behaviour of migrants (P < 0.05).
  
  
  
  Disparity of service utilisation continues to be a problem for migrants due to the poor health awareness, lack of time and inconvenience of medical insurance reimbursement. Employed migrants make the least use of health services.
authors: Faculty of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.|Sun Yat-sen Center for Migrant Health Policy, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Xiaolei
authors: X
authors: Song
authors: Sun Yat-sen Center for Migrant Health Policy, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.|Institute for International Health and Development, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK.
authors: Guanyang
authors: G
authors: Zou
authors: Faculty of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.|Sun Yat-sen Center for Migrant Health Policy, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Wen
authors: W
authors: Chen
authors: Faculty of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.|Sun Yat-sen Center for Migrant Health Policy, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Siqi
authors: S
authors: Han
authors: Faculty of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.|Sun Yat-sen Center for Migrant Health Policy, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Xia
authors: X
authors: Zou
authors: Faculty of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.|Sun Yat-sen Center for Migrant Health Policy, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Ling
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012179:Retirement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012424:Rural Population; D013997:Time Factors; D014171:Transients and Migrants; D014478:Unemployment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: China; Chine; health services; healthcare inequalities; inequidades en salud; inégalités en matière de santé; services de santé; servicios sanitarios