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There is now a growing interest in early-life influences on adult diseases in China. A number of birth cohorts have been established. This systematic review provided a better understanding of the development of mother–baby cohorts in China. Systematic review. We conducted a systematic review for research or profile papers in English/Chinese that reported data from mother–baby cohorts in mainland China, with ≥1y follow-up after birth. We identified 315 papers, corresponding to 31 cohorts from 19 provinces/megacities. All cohorts started in 1999–2017 (21 after 2010) and were set up with broad objectives or specific scientific focus. The baseline sample size varied, from <500 to >300,000 mothers. A majority of cohorts were initiated during pregnancy and followed children to <10y, only six to adolescence and none into adulthood. These cohorts mostly collected samples from mothers and babies, in addition to using interviews/questionnaires to collect information about pregnancy, birth and child health. Most cohorts were recruited from a single province/city. The large western region was understudied. Mother–baby cohorts have developed rapidly in China, but usually with a short follow-up duration. Extending the follow-up of children and developing cross-cohort collaboration will increase the diversity, size and coverage of the sample, allow studying early influences on life-course health and identify targets for early intervention in the Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This paper explores the effects of four dimensions of social exclusion on self-rated health and depression among older people in China. • Lower level of exclusion from social relationships was associated with less likely to report fair or poor SRH. • Lower level of subjective feelings of exclusion was associated with less likely to report fair or poor SRH. • Lower level of subjective feeling of exclusion was associated with less likely to report depression. • Lower level of exclusion from financial products was associated with less likely to report depression. Abstract Background It is well established that social exclusion is a key social determinant of health; however, such association between social exclusion and health outcomes among older people remain a relatively under-researched area. This paper explores the effects of four dimensions of social exclusion on self-rated health and depression among older people in China. Methods This paper includes 8038 individuals aged 60 and over from the first wave national multi-stage probability sample (2014) from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS). Descriptive univariate information for individual variables and four dimensions of social exclusion are presented. Multinomial and binary logistic regression models are used to examine the associations between social exclusion and self-rated health and depression. Results Older people who were in the lower level of exclusion from social relationships or subjective feelings of exclusion were significantly less likely to report fair or poor self-rated health than people in the higher level of exclusion (lower level of exclusion from social activities was significantly associated with being less likely to report poor SRH only). Older people who were in the lower level of subjective feeling of exclusion or exclusion from financial products were significantly less likely to report depression. Conclusions Different dimensions of social exclusion have different effects on self-rated health and depression. Social policies need to reflect this and efforts of services could usefully be oriented to prevent multi-dimensions of social exclusion. Ultimately, such policies should have the potential to enhance the health of older people in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ex post moral hazard, the additional healthcare utilization induced by health insurance, can be decomposed into an efficient portion generated by the income effect and an inefficient portion caused by the substitution effect, which has been discussed theoretically, but few studies have provided evidence of the efficient moral hazard. In 2016, the Chinese government launched the consolidation of urban and rural resident health insurance at the national level. After the consolidation, insurance benefits for nearly 800 million rural residents got improved. This paper uses a nationally-representative sample of 30,972 individuals from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011–2018) and adopts a 2-step empirical approach with the difference-in-differences method and the fuzzy regression discontinuity design to estimate the efficient moral hazard in the consolidation among rural residents. We find that the price shock contained in the consolidation increases inpatient care utilization, and the corresponding price elasticity is between −0.68 and −0.62. Further analysis shows that the efficient moral hazard resulting in welfare gains accounts for 43.33%–66.36% of the additional healthcare utilization. These findings highlight the necessity of evaluating the efficient moral hazard when analyzing the cost-benefit of health insurance reform. • We provide rare evidence of the efficient moral hazard effect in health insurance. • We focus on low-income groups from developing countries. • We use a 2-step empirical approach to estimate the efficient moral hazard effect. • The efficient moral hazard generated by income effect accounts for 43.33%–66.36%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the causal link running from spatial structure to productivity in Chinese prefecture regions. Specifically, we investigate whether mono- or polycentricity leads to higher productivity in the context of China. We use satellite-derived data of night-time lights as a measurement of spatial structure to avoid potential measurement errors. While our descriptive statistics show that Chinese city-regions at the prefectural level have a weak tendency towards polycentricity from 2000 to 2010, regression models reveal that a more monocentric spatial structure performs better in terms of labor productivity, a result that a stricter two-stage least square estimation supports. Thus, we advise caution for urban plans and policies encouraging polycentric urban development, which may come at the loss of economic efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal payment for medical services is a common phenomenon in China. Patients make informal payments, in cash or in kind, to physicians in addition to official charges billed for medical services. This paper assesses the associations between patients' perceptions of the physician as an agent for the patient's interests (physician agency problem) and informal payment behavior. Using data of 24,000 and 6700 rural households respectively from the Health Development of Rural China Program database (collected in 2008) and Ningxia data source (collected in 2015), we find that patients' concern about physician agency problems is significantly associated with informal payments. The data shows that patients are more likely to make informal payments when they show low trust towards their physicians. For example, in the surgical cases, among patients who strongly distrusted the physicians, 17.9% (95% confidence interval [CI]:]: 13.5, 22.3) initiated informal payments, compared to 8.0% (95% CI: 5.1, 10.9) who expressed "strong trust" in their physicians. Poor communication was also significantly associated with an increase in the informal payment rate. For example, in the non-surgical setting, among the patients who rated the physicians' explaining skills as "poor," 5.9% (95% CI: 5.0, 6.9) of them made informal payments, significantly higher than the patients who rated "excellent" (of whom 1.8% made informal payments 95% CI, 0.9, 2.7). In this study, we provide an explanation for this finding: patients may initiate informal payments to physicians in order to mitigate the physician agency problem. It suggests that to mitigate informal payments, improving alignment between doctors' incentives and patients' interests would be essential. • Informal payments were directly related to patients' concerns about physicians' behavior. • Patients were more likely to make informal payments when they showed low trust towards their physicians. • Poor communication between patients and physicians was related to informal payment rate. • Informal payment might be viewed as an effort by the patients to align the physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper is intended to assess the primary effects on cost, utilization and quality of care from payment reform of capitation and open enrollment in Changde city, Hunan Province of China. Open enrollment policy was introduced to deal with possible cream skimming associated with capitation. Based on the longitudinal Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URBMI) Household Survey, this study analyses the URBMI data through a set of regression models. The original data included over five thousand inpatient admissions during the study period between 2008 and 2010. The study finds the payment reform to reduce its inpatient out-of-pocket cost by 19.7%, out-of-pocket ratio by 9.5%, and length of stay by 17.7%. However, the total inpatient cost, drug cost ratio, treatment effect, and patient satisfaction showed little difference between Fee-For-Service and capitation models. We conclude that the payment reform in Changde did not reduce overall inpatient expenditure, but it decreased the financial risk and length of stay of inpatient patients without compromising quality of care. The findings would contribute to the health care payment literatures from developing countries and open further research tracks on the ability of open enrollment to compensate for capitation drawbacks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: During the past three decades, an estimated 200 million rural residents have moved to urban centers in China. They are “sojourners” in the cities and maintain close ties with their home communities, which we term trans-local ties. This paper examines the relationship between migrants'' social ties and their mental health, and contrasts the trans-local ties with migrants'' ties in the receiving communities, which are termed local ties. We expect that for the migrants, trans-local ties foster better mental health not only through providing emotional support but also through generating favorable social comparisons; whereas local ties may furnish important social support, but may also produce negative social comparisons. We use data collected in Shanghai to test our expectations. We compare the migrants to a sample of Shanghai natives to assess patterns of relationship between social ties and mental health that are unique to the migrants. We find that for the migrants, more numerous trans-local ties are associated with better mental health, whereas the number of local ties is not a significant predictor. This pattern is not observed among the Shanghai natives. Moreover, for migrants, trans-local ties foster a favorable evaluation of their status in Shanghai and buffer their perception of discrimination; in contrast, more numerous local ties tend to be associated with a more negative perception of social status. The findings highlight an often-overlooked pathway between social ties and health outcomes, namely, through influencing social comparison and perceived social status. This study also suggests that in addition to reducing institutional and personal discrimination, facilitating close bonds between the migrants and their home communities may be a productive way to foster their well-being, in the context of contemporary urban China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: As cardiovascular diseases have become the leading cause of death in many countries including China, nurses are increasingly required to be abreast of technological advances and the skills necessary to manage this increasing health care problem. Chinese nurses are under pressure to provide skilled electrocardiography monitoring, and be sufficiently skilled to detect myocardial ischemia and infarction, in this large patient population. This presents a challenge for the nursing profession in China, particularly for nurses working in coronary care in a country where advancement has been so rapid, yet little research has been conducted or reported in the literature. Objectives: The two main objectives were: to explore the demographic and educational factors that affect the use of ST-segment monitoring and correct electrode placement by CCU/ICU nurses in China; and to explore the factors both individual and institutional that affect monitoring and lead placement. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to nurses in 126 randomly selected tertiary hospitals, which were stratified into three homogeneous regions across China. The instrument examined demographics, information about hospitals, electrocardiogram devices, current practice patterns and perceptions toward monitoring and lead placement. Data from 734 nurses and 59 nurse managers from 59 hospitals were analyzed using t-tests, ANOVA, Chi-square test and logistic regression. Results: Electrocardiogram monitoring was used to detect myocardial ischemia by 43.7% of respondents, and 35.1% selected leads according to electrocardiogram or angiography findings. Most (70%) agreed that monitoring for acute coronary syndrome was important, while 39.2% did so, and 15.7% were able to identify correct placement. Logistic regression revealed a significant relationship between the uses of ST-segment monitoring and number of hospital beds, continuing education and a belief in its use and ease of use. Correct electrode placement was significantly correlated with respondents from university hospitals, hospitals with more acute coronary syndrome admissions and more independent thinking nurses. Conclusions: Despite best practice evidence, less than half of the sample used electrocardiogram monitoring to detect myocardial ischemia and the majority could not identify correct electrode placement, while ST-segment monitoring was not used routinely. This paper highlights the need for improvements in education both in universities and hospitals and discussion addresses conventions in units, which inhibit development of nurses’ skills. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

There is an increasing interest in using ordinal data collection methods, such as the best-worst scaling (BWS), to develop preference-based tariffs (value sets) for health-related quality of life instruments, yet the evidence on their performance is limited. This paper proposed to use an anchored BWS technique (in which the state of "death" served as an anchoring state) to directly develop a utility weight that lies on a scale anchored at 0 = death and 1 = full health for the Simplified Chinese version of the Short Form 6 Dimension version 2 (SF-6Dv2). An online panel from the general population of Mainland China completed an online survey between 20th July and 19th August, 2019 and 463 respondents were included in the main analysis. The Conditional Logit (CL) model, which assumes a homogeneous preference, as well as a Hierarchical Bayes (HB) model, which accounts for preference heterogeneity, were used to analyze the BWS data. The model performances were evaluated based on monotonicity and model-fit statistics. The majority of respondents indicated that the BWS questions were easy to understand and complete. Initial analyses suggested that the best and worst choices should not be pooled together. Based on model fit statistics of separated estimations and previous literature on health state valuation studies using BWS, the best choices were used for developing the final algorithm. The HB estimates were found to have better model performance than the CL estimates. This study provides an essential insight into using an anchored BWS approach in health state valuation. Furthermore, it demonstrates the advantage of using HB compared to the traditional CL model in producing preference values. • An anchored best-worst scaling technique has been used to develop preference weights directly. • Accounting for individual heterogeneity leads to a better model fit. • Incorporating respondents' views of attribute importance can improve model performance. • A Chinese online-panel-based scoring algorithm for SF-6Dv2 is developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Explore the effect of work-family conflict on parenting stress for ADHD families. • Identify work-family conflict as a potent contributor to parenting stress. • Non-working parents have higher parenting stress than employed parents do. • Chinese mothers experience higher parenting stress than fathers do. • More research is needed given the absence of work and parenting stress research. This paper reports the results of a one-time survey among Chinese families of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (n = 314) and families with typically developing (TD) children (n = 308) in mainland China, which aimed to examine the effects of the parenting role, work-family conflict, child ADHD symptoms, parental depression, anxiety, and somatization, parenting alliance, and social support on parenting stress. The results of the study have shown that (i) parents of children with ADHD experienced significantly higher levels of parenting stress than did parents of TD children; Chinese mothers experienced significantly higher parenting stress than fathers did; (ii) mothers of children with ADHD had more work-family conflict than mothers of TD children did; (iii) non-working parents had higher levels of parenting stress than the employed parents did; (iv) work-family conflict, depression, anxiety, and somatization, child ADHD symptoms, parenting role, and social support accounted for 40.9% of the variance in parenting stress; parenting alliances did not approach significance in the regression. Implications for social work practice and service development are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]