Evaluation of distribution of cardiovascular disease associated health resources in China

ObjectiveTo evaluate the distribution of health resources related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) at provincial level in China.

MethodsThe data for this study were collected from the research of China Cardiovascular Health Index (CHI) in 2017. The indicators of CHI-Public Health Policy and Service Capability were used to evaluate and analyze the specific situation of 31 provinces (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). The full score of the CHI-Public Health Policy is 100. The higher the score is, the better public health policy and service capabilities are.

ResultsThe average score of health policy and service capacity in the field of cardiovascular disease prevention and control in 2017 was 50.96. It was 53.09 in southern China, 48.10 in northern China, 60.52 in eastern China, 41.51 in central China and 45.75 in western China. Shanghai had the highest score (79.54), followed by Beijing (77.09), Jiangsu (75.62), Zhejiang (68.93) and Tianjin (65.63). Heilongjiang, Shanxi, Guizhou, Tibet, Inner Mongolia had lower scores. In 2015, government provided 29.96% CVD related expenses. The residents' health literacy level was 10.25%. The numbers of disease control personnel and general practitioners per 10 000 people were 1.39 and 1.37, respectively. Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Shanghai, and Hebei had higher one million population based consumption for hypertension, hyper lipid, and high blood glucose treatment medicines. The average availability rate of the eight types of essential medicines for cardiovascular diseases in primary health care centers was 61.50%. The availability rate in Shanghai was highest (96.95%), followed by Beijing (89.32%), Jiangsu (88.53%), Shandong (84.20%) and Zhejiang (80.32%).

ConclusionThere was an uneven distribution of cardiovascular disease health resources at provincial level in China, characterized by better health policy and health resource distribution in eastern and southern areas than central, western, and northern areas. The availability of essential CVD medicines in primary care centers and the number of general practitioners per capita might be associated with a reduction of the burden of cardiovascular disease.