Health-Related Quality of Life and Health Service Utilization in Chinese Rural-to-Urban Migrant Workers

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Chu-Hong Lu²  Zhong-Cheng Luo¹  Jia-Ji Wang²  Jian-Hu Zhong³  Pei-Xi Wang² 

[1] Ministry of Education-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children’s Environmental Health, Xin Hua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao-Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200092, China; E-Mail:;Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510182, China; E-Mails:;Community Health Services Center of Liaobu, Dongguan 523401, China; E-Mail:

关键词: health-related quality of life (HRQOL);    health service utilization;    migrant workers;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph120202205

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Objectives: The number of rural-to-urban migrant workers has been increasing rapidly in China over recent decades, but there is a scarcity of data on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and health service utilization among Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers in comparison to local urban residents. We aimed to address this question. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 2315 rural-to-urban migrant workers and 2347 local urban residents in the Shenzhen-Dongguan economic zone (China) in 2013. Outcomes included HRQOL (measured by Health Survey Short Form 36) and health service utilization (self-reported). Results: Compared to local urban residents, rural-to-urban migrant workers had lower scores in all domains of HRQOL, and were more likely to report chronic illnesses (9.2% vs. 6.0%, adjusted OR = 1.62, 95% CI 1.28–2.04) and recent two-week morbidity (21.3% vs. 5.0%, adjusted OR = 5.41, 95% CI 4.26–6.88). Among individuals who reported sickness in the recent two weeks, migrant workers were much less likely to see a doctor (32.7% vs. 66.7%, adjusted OR = 0.21, 95% CI 0.13–0.36). Conclusions: Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers have lower HRQOL, much more frequent morbidity, but are also much less likely to see a doctor in times of sickness as compared to local urban residents, indicating the existence of significant unmet medical care needs in this population.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.