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Table 1 Description of variables

From: Catastrophic health expenditures and its inequality in elderly households with chronic disease patients in China

Variables

Description

Elderly household with chronic disease patients

Elderly household that did not report chronic disease

Mean(S.D.)

Mean(S.D.)

Household expenditure and OOP health expenditure

OOP payment for health care

Household OOP medical expense over the last year (yuan RMB)

3227.07 (105.88)

1652.54 (207.06)

OOP payment of chronic disease patients

OOP medical expense of chronic disease patients over the last year (yuan RMB)

2513.83 (84.76)

-

Non-food household expenditure

Household Non-food expenditure over the last year (yuan RMB)

14921.84 (402.07)

12785.67 (596.89)

Household socioeconomic factors

Marital status

=1 if married; =2 if divorced, widowed or never married.

1.1908 (0.0045)

1.3206 (0.0109)

Household size

=1 if living with children; =0 otherwise.

0.6570 (0.0054)

0.6990 (0.0107)

Receipt of economic assistance

=1 if receiving economic supports; =0 otherwise.

0.4104 (0.0056)

0.3206 (0.0109)

Provision of economic assistance

=1 if providing economic supports; =0 otherwise.

0.3605 (0.0055)

0.3495 (0.0111)

Providing care

=1 if spending time taking care of grandchildren or parents; =0 otherwise.

0.3940 (0.0056)

0.3128 (0.0110)

Household members > 65 years

=1 if having one or more members over 65 years of age; =0 otherwise.

0.3515 (0.0055)

0.2789 (0.0107)

Household members with ≥ 2 chronic diseases

=1 if any patient has two or more chronic diseases; =0 otherwise.

0.6398 (0.0055)

-

Per capita income

household income per capita over the last year(yuan RMB)

9653.96 (175.31)

10777.86 (405.67)

Healthcare insurance

=1if all patients have healthcare insurance; =0 otherwise.

0.9361 (0.2444)

0.9153 (0.2784)

Health-care seeking behaviors

Outpatient service

Health care post or Village clinic

=1 if the elderly go to health care post or village clinic for treatment; =0 otherwise.

0.0955 (0.0034)

0.0447 (0.0048)

First-level hospital

=1 if the elderly go to first-level hospital for treatment; =0 otherwise.

0.0496 (0.0025)

0.0224 (0.0035)

Second-level hospital and above

=1 if the elderly go to second-level hospital or above for treatment; =0 otherwise.

0.0754 (0.0030)

0.0289 (0.0039)

Inpatient service

First-level hospital

=1 if the elderly go to first-level hospital for hospitalization; =0 otherwise.

0.0222 (0.0017)

0.0076 (0.0020)

Second-level hospital and above

=1 if the elderly go to second-level hospital or above for hospitalization; =0 otherwise.

0.0611 (0.0027)

0.0311 (0.0041)

  1. Note: Health care post or village clinic is a health facility that is primarily devoted to the care of outpatients in an urban or rural area; First-level hospitals refer to urban community health centers and township hospitals; second-level hospitals and above refer to general hospitals, specialized hospitals and Chinese medicine hospitals at county level and above.