Willingness to pay for diabetic retinopathy screening in Qujiang District, rural Guangdong, southern China: a cross-sectional study

Baixiang Xiao, Xuejun Gu, Ling Jin, Ving Fai Chan, Yanping Li, Carlos Price-Sanchez, Yuanping Liu, Yanfang Wang, Haoxiang Fu, Dongfeng Li, Nathan Congdon*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

Objective To determine willingness to pay for a diabetic retinopathy screening, and its determinants, among people with diabetes mellitus in Qujiang District of Shaoguan City, rural Guangdong, southern China.

Design This cross-sectional study was conducted through a large-scale screening programme in 2019. We randomly selected 575 (21.5%) among 2677 people over 18 years old with known diabetes who attended the screening. Participants elected to pay nothing or RMB10–RMB120 (US$1.6–US$18.8), in RMB10 intervals, displayed on printed cards. One trained interviewer collected all the data.

Setting Ten primary health centres in Qujiang District of Shaoguan City, Guangdong.

Participants 545 from the 575 randomly selected people (94.8%) agreed to participate in the study.

Outcome measures Proportion of participants willing to pay anything for screening, mean amount they were willing to pay and determinants of these figures.

Results Among 545 participants (mean age 64.6 years (SD±10.4), 40.7% men), 327 (60.0%) were willing to pay something for screening, of whom 273 (83.5%) would pay RMB10–RMB30 (US$1.6–US$4.7). People living in rural areas and those from lower-income families were more likely to be willing to pay anything, while men, urban residents and those covered by employer-linked insurance were willing to pay larger sums (p

Conclusion Nearly two-thirds of participants were willing to pay for screening in this screening programme organised at the primary care level in rural China. This finding offers the potential that such activities can be sustained and scaled up through user fees.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere065792
Number of pages8
JournalBMJ Open
Volume13
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Apr 2023

Keywords

  • Diabetic retinopathy
  • epidemiology
  • Health Economics
  • Humans
  • Diabetic Retinopathy
  • Diabetes Mellitus
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Adolescent
  • Middle Aged
  • Income
  • Insurance
  • China
  • Female
  • Male
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • diabetic retinopathy
  • Diabetic Retinopathy - diagnosis
  • health economics

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