Examining health disparities and characteristics in general practice utilization: based on outpatient data from 2014 - 2018 in Shanghai

BACKGROUND: Since 2000, China has been developing primary care institutions to serve as the gateway to the healthcare system. However, the investment of resources in primary care institutions is not based on the actual medical demands of the public. This study analysed primary care utilization to provide targeted guidance for the improvement of primary healthcare delivery in China. METHODS: We extracted outpatient visit data from all community healthcare centres in Shanghai from 2014 to 2018. Diseases were then classified according to ICD-10 codes. The disease spectrum (frequency, proportion, rank) was stratified by sex, age, and region. RESULTS: Most primary care outpatients were female (58.20%), 60–79 years old (57.91%), and in suburban regions (62.18%). Chronic diseases accounted for the majority (91.41%). Hypertension, chronic ischaemic heart disease, diabetes, and acute upper respiratory tract infections were the top four disorders for primary care visits regardless of sex. In the group aged 0–18 years, symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings not elsewhere classified accounted for 37.96% of the top 20 reasons. Acute upper respiratory tract infections were the most common diseases in the groups aged 0–18 (11.20%) and 19–39 (11.14%) years. However, hypertension was the most common disease in the group aged > 39 years old (> 20%). There were more outpatients with respiratory and digestive diseases in suburban areas than in urban areas. In addition, problems associated with medical equipment and other healthcare deficiencies were relatively more common in suburban areas (suburban: 4.13%, rank 5; urban: 2.29%, rank 10). CONCLUSIONS: To meet the patients’ needs and to develop the primary care system, the Shanghai government should focus on diseases with regionally high proportions. Disease diagnosis and treatment should be improved in the younger and suburban populations.