Family doctor contract services and health-related quality of life among patients with chronic diseases in rural China: what is the role of socioeconomic status?

PURPOSE: Few studies explored the relationship between the family doctor contract services (FDCS) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among patients with chronic diseases in rural China. This study aims to explore the relationship between the status of signing on FDCS and HRQOL among patients with chronic diseases and examine whether there are differences in the relationship between different socioeconomic status (SES). METHODS: A total of 1,210 respondents were included in this study. HRQOL was measured by EQ-5D-3L. The contracting status was divided into uncontracted and contracted. Tobit regression and Logistic regression were employed to explore the association between contracting status and HRQOL. The interaction terms were included to explore the differences in the association among different SES. RESULTS: Contracting with family doctors was associated with HRQOL (coefficient = 0.042; 95%CI 0.008 to 0.075). The association was different among different socioeconomic levels that the contracting status was only associated with HRQOL in sub-high-income (P < 0.01) and highly educated patients (P < 0.05). Compared with uncontracted patients, contracted patients reported higher ED-5D-3L utility value in the sub-high-income group (coefficient = 0.078; 95%CI 0.017 to 0.140) and high educational attainment (coefficient = 0.266; 95%CI 0.119 to 0.413). CONCLUSIONS: This study found a significant association between FDCS and HRQOL among chronic patients in rural Shandong, China. This relationship varied by income levels and educational attainment. The government should take efforts to formulate a variety of measures to encourage chronic patients to contract with family doctors, with special attention to people with low SES. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12939-021-01530-2.