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Article: The ecology of health care in Hong Kong

TitleThe ecology of health care in Hong Kong
Authors
KeywordsHealth services utilization
Hong Kong
Traditional medicine
Western allopathic medications
Issue Date2005
PublisherPergamon. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimed
Citation
Social Science And Medicine, 2005, v. 61 n. 3, p. 577-590 How to Cite?
AbstractTo better understand the distribution of resources and health care consumption patterns in different geo-ethnic and socio-economic settings, we sought to describe the patterns of illness, care-seeking behavior and health services utilization in Hong Kong compared to the US and UK. Data were derived from the 2002 Hong Kong Thematic Household Survey covering 31,762 non-institutional and institutional residents, representing 6,504,255 persons after applying population weights. Of 1000 individuals during a 1-month period, 567 reported symptoms, 512 of whom considered seeking health care. Four hundred and forty persons visited western allopathic medical practitioners, with 372 (84.5%) in primary care and 68 (15.5%) in specialty care. There were 54 visits to traditional Chinese medical practitioners and 16 emergency room episodes. Seven individuals were hospitalized in community hospitals and on average one in 1000 were admitted to a tertiary medical center. Ninety out of the 567 who experienced symptoms undertook self-management strategies, which included over-the-counter western allopathic medications (n=54) or traditional Chinese remedies (n=14) or both (n=2), dietary modification (n=1) and rest (n=15). We have mapped the ecology of health care in Hong Kong. Monthly prevalence estimates were remarkably similar to US figures for hospital-based events, whereas there was evidence of apparent, substantial "over-consumption" of ambulatory, community-based care. Our results also indicate that the local community's care-seeking orientation still very much favors western allopathic medicine over traditional Chinese therapy, at least for acute illness episodes. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/86752
ISSN
2023 Impact Factor: 4.9
2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 1.954
ISI Accession Number ID
References

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorLeung, GMen_HK
dc.contributor.authorWong, IOLen_HK
dc.contributor.authorChan, WSen_HK
dc.contributor.authorChoi, Sen_HK
dc.contributor.authorLo, SVen_HK
dc.date.accessioned2010-09-06T09:20:53Z-
dc.date.available2010-09-06T09:20:53Z-
dc.date.issued2005en_HK
dc.identifier.citationSocial Science And Medicine, 2005, v. 61 n. 3, p. 577-590en_HK
dc.identifier.issn0277-9536en_HK
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/86752-
dc.description.abstractTo better understand the distribution of resources and health care consumption patterns in different geo-ethnic and socio-economic settings, we sought to describe the patterns of illness, care-seeking behavior and health services utilization in Hong Kong compared to the US and UK. Data were derived from the 2002 Hong Kong Thematic Household Survey covering 31,762 non-institutional and institutional residents, representing 6,504,255 persons after applying population weights. Of 1000 individuals during a 1-month period, 567 reported symptoms, 512 of whom considered seeking health care. Four hundred and forty persons visited western allopathic medical practitioners, with 372 (84.5%) in primary care and 68 (15.5%) in specialty care. There were 54 visits to traditional Chinese medical practitioners and 16 emergency room episodes. Seven individuals were hospitalized in community hospitals and on average one in 1000 were admitted to a tertiary medical center. Ninety out of the 567 who experienced symptoms undertook self-management strategies, which included over-the-counter western allopathic medications (n=54) or traditional Chinese remedies (n=14) or both (n=2), dietary modification (n=1) and rest (n=15). We have mapped the ecology of health care in Hong Kong. Monthly prevalence estimates were remarkably similar to US figures for hospital-based events, whereas there was evidence of apparent, substantial "over-consumption" of ambulatory, community-based care. Our results also indicate that the local community's care-seeking orientation still very much favors western allopathic medicine over traditional Chinese therapy, at least for acute illness episodes. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.en_HK
dc.languageengen_HK
dc.publisherPergamon. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimeden_HK
dc.relation.ispartofSocial Science and Medicineen_HK
dc.subjectHealth services utilizationen_HK
dc.subjectHong Kongen_HK
dc.subjectTraditional medicineen_HK
dc.subjectWestern allopathic medicationsen_HK
dc.subject.meshAdolescenten_HK
dc.subject.meshAdulten_HK
dc.subject.meshAgeden_HK
dc.subject.meshFamily Characteristicsen_HK
dc.subject.meshFemaleen_HK
dc.subject.meshHealth Care Surveysen_HK
dc.subject.meshHealth Services - utilizationen_HK
dc.subject.meshHong Kong - epidemiologyen_HK
dc.subject.meshHumansen_HK
dc.subject.meshMaleen_HK
dc.subject.meshMedicine, Chinese Traditional - utilizationen_HK
dc.subject.meshMiddle Ageden_HK
dc.subject.meshMorbidityen_HK
dc.subject.meshPatient Acceptance of Health Care - ethnologyen_HK
dc.subject.meshPrivatization - economicsen_HK
dc.subject.meshSelf Careen_HK
dc.subject.meshSocioeconomic Factorsen_HK
dc.subject.meshSociology, Medicalen_HK
dc.titleThe ecology of health care in Hong Kongen_HK
dc.typeArticleen_HK
dc.identifier.openurlhttp://library.hku.hk:4550/resserv?sid=HKU:IR&issn=0277-9536&volume=61&spage=577&epage=590&date=2005&atitle=The+ecology+of+health+care+in+Hong+Kongen_HK
dc.identifier.emailLeung, GM: gmleung@hkucc.hku.hken_HK
dc.identifier.emailWong, IOL: iolwong@hku.hken_HK
dc.identifier.authorityLeung, GM=rp00460en_HK
dc.identifier.authorityWong, IOL=rp01806en_HK
dc.description.naturelink_to_subscribed_fulltext-
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.12.029en_HK
dc.identifier.pmid15899317-
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-19444369141en_HK
dc.identifier.hkuros108326en_HK
dc.relation.referenceshttp://www.scopus.com/mlt/select.url?eid=2-s2.0-19444369141&selection=ref&src=s&origin=recordpageen_HK
dc.identifier.volume61en_HK
dc.identifier.issue3en_HK
dc.identifier.spage577en_HK
dc.identifier.epage590en_HK
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000229659400007-
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdomen_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridLeung, GM=7007159841en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridWong, IOL=7102513940en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridChan, WS=7403918160en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridChoi, S=26653972100en_HK
dc.identifier.scopusauthoridLo, SV=8426498400en_HK
dc.identifier.issnl0277-9536-

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