Increased consumption of cardiovascular drugs under volume-based procurement (VBP) policy: demand release or assessment inducing?

Background: The phenomenon of growth in drug consumption within the framework of national volume-based procurement (VBP) policy raises speculations about demand release and policy inducing. This study aims to explore the reasons and mechanisms of drug consumption increases following VBP policy from two perspectives.

Methods: We collected data from the China Drug Supply Information Platform, National Bureau of Statistics and the Joint Procurement Office.

The impact of Chinese volume-based procurement on pharmaceutical market concentration.

Objectives: Optimizing the pharmaceutical industrial structure is the key mission of China's healthcare reform. From the industrial structure perspective, this study empirically evaluated the impact of China's national volume-based procurement (NVBP) policy on market concentration in the hospital-end drug market.

Methods: This study used drug procurement data of China's public medical institutions which obtained from the national database.

Influencing factors, gender differences and the decomposition of inequalities in cognitive function in Chinese older adults: a population-based cohort study.

Background: Evidence remains limited and inconsistent for assessing cognitive function in Chinese older adults (CFCOA) and inequalities in cognitive function in Chinese older adults (ICFCOA) and exploring their influencing factors and gender differences. This study aimed to identify influencing factors and inequality in CFCOA to empirically explore the existence and sources of gender differences in such inequality and analyse their heterogeneous effects.

Methods: Based on data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) for three periods from 2011 to 2015, recentered influence function unconditional quantile regression (RIF-UQR) and recentered influence function ordinary least squares (RIF-OLS) regression were applied to assess influencing factors of CFCOA, while grouped treatment effect estimation, Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, and propensity score matching (PSM) methods were conducted to identify gender differences in ICFCOA and influencing factors, respectively.

A quasi-experimental study of the volume-based procurement (VBP) effect on antiviral medications of hepatitis B virus in China.

The Pilot Plan of National Centralized Volume-Based Procurement (NCVBP) was adopted to cope with the rapid increase in drug expenditures. This research aimed to quantitatively evaluate the impact of the NCVBP on antiviral medications for the hepatitis B virus. Data on nucleoside analogs (NAs) medications of hepatitis B virus monthly procurement records in the pilot cities from January 2018 to December 2019 were extracted from the China Drug Supply Information Platform (CDSIP).

The effect of informal social support on the health of Chinese older adults: a cross-sectional study.

Background: This study aimed to assess the effect of informal social support (ISS) on the health of Chinese older adults, identify channels of the association between the two, and assess the magnitude of this effect in different groups of older adults.

Methods: Based on the data from the 2018 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS), we first used both the Quality of Well-Being (QWB) scale and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to construct the QWB score that can objectively measure the health status of Chinese older adults. Next, we conducted an econometric equation controlling for various high-dimensional fixed effects, estimated the effects using the Tobit model, and used various robustness check strategies and the propensity score matching (PSM) method to ensure reliability and deal with the potential endogeneity, respectively.

The impact of key monitoring policy on the usage of policy-related drugs in Hubei Province, China.

This study evaluated quantitatively the impact of the first batch of the catalog of Key Monitoring and Rational Use Drugs (KMRUD) in Hubei Province on policy-related drug use and expenditures. This study is aimed to provide a basis for the successful implementation of subsequent catalogs of KMRUD, which may promote the standardization of clinical application of related drugs and effectively reduce drug expenses of the patients. Data on the procurement records of policy-related drugs from January 2018 to June 2021 were obtained from the Drug Centralized Procurement Platform of the Public Resources Trading Center in Hubei Province.

Quantitative evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine development policy: A PMC index model approach.

Background: Traditional Chinese medicine development policies (TCMDPs) are essential in improving the sustainable development of TCM undertakings, of which transmissions of policy information are closely related to the actual policy effectiveness. However, the inherent components of TCMDPs had not been explored from the structural dimension of policy design.

Methods: Based on the policy modeling consistency (PMC) index model, we constructed a comprehensive evaluation system, including ten first-level and 40 second-level indicators, and focused on the TCMDPs released by the Chinese central government in the past 42 years (1980-2022) to conduct multi-dimensional inspections to TCMDPs by analyzing the overall policy quality, individual scoring performance, and indicators distribution characteristics.

Multiple chronic conditions among older adults in China: differences in socio-demographic characteristics.

Objective: There are relatively few studies on multiple chronic conditions (MCC) among older adults in China. This study sought to assess the potential differences in the risk of MCC among different elderly populations, and thus to identify the most vulnerable populations at higher risk of developing the MCC.

Methods: A sample of 5320 adults aged 60 years or above from the China's Health-Related Quality of Life Survey for Older Adults 2018 (CHRQLS-OA 2018) were included in this study.

Relationship between physical activity, screen-related sedentary behaviors and anxiety among adolescents in less developed areas of China.

This study aimed to explore the association between physical activity, screen-related sedentary behaviors, and anxiety. The current study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify homogenous subtypes of anxiety among adolescents in less-developed areas of China. Data were aggregated from 6 schools in the less-developed areas of China in September 2018.

The change of drug utilization in China's public healthcare institutions under the "4 + 7" centralized drug procurement policy: Evidence from a natural experiment in China.

Improving drug accessibility and rational drug use are major challenges for China's healthcare reform. In 2018, the Chinese government introduced a novel nationwide policy of centralized drug procurement for off-patent drugs, focusing on improving drug utilization patterns of public medical institutions. To estimate the impacts of the Chinese centralized drug procurement policy (the so-called "4 + 7" policy) on drug utilization in public medical institutions.

The impacts of the "4+7" pilot policy on the volume, expenditures, and daily cost of Serotonin-Specific Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) antidepressants: A quasi-experimental study.

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the impacts of the"4 + 7" pilot policy on purchase volume, purchase expenditures, and daily cost and to find the changes in the use of SSRIs. Data was collected covering 31 months, before, during, and after the "4 + 7" pilot policy was implemented in Shenzhen. Interrupted time-series (ITS) analysis was used to examine whether there had been a significant effect with the onset of the "4 + 7" pilot policy in March 2019.

Changing Characteristics of Pharmaceutical Prices in China Under Centralized Procurement Policy: A Multi-Intervention Interrupted Time Series.

: National centralized drug procurement organized by the Chinese government currently represents the largest group purchasing organization worldwide, to establish a reasonable price formation mechanism. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of centralized procurement policy on drug price and price ratio in China. : Monthly drug procurement data of public medical institutions were extracted from the national procurement database, including 11 pilot cities and 36 months from January 2018 to December 2020.

Impact of the Pilot Volume-Based Drug Purchasing Policy in China: Interrupted Time-Series Analysis with Controls.

Centralizing procurement for prescription drugs has the potential to reduce drug spending by creating economies of scale and by improving purchasing power. In March 2019, the Chinese government launched a volume-based purchasing (VBP) pilot program using a competitive bidding process to purchase accredited generic drugs for which branded drug substitutes were available. We performed an interrupted time-series design to estimate the change in monthly drug purchase quantity and spending comparing 14 months before and 7 months after the VBP pilot.

A Cross-National Comparison on Life Expectancy of Non-Hispanic White Americans.

Taking the life expectancy (LE) of Non-Hispanic White (NHW) Americans as an example to provide potential references for improving LE globally. We collected complete data from the United States (US) CDC, Office for National Statistics in the United Kingdom (UK), and the OECD publications, and described LE changes of NHW Americans by cross-national comparison and Arriaga's method. LE of NHW Americans was not as optimistic as European countries from 2006 to 2018.

Impact of '4+7' volume-based drug procurement on the use of policy-related original and generic drugs: a natural experimental study in China.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the first round of the National Centralized Drug Procurement pilot (so-called '4+7' policy) on the use of policy-related original and generic drugs.

Methods: A retrospective natural experimental design was adopted. Drug procurement data from the China Drug Supply Information Platform database were used, involving 9 '4+7' pilot cities in intervention group and 12 non-pilot provinces in control group.

Antibiotic Use in China's Public Healthcare Institutions During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Nationwide Procurement Data, 2018-2020.

The overuse of antibiotics is a serious public health problem and a major challenge in China, and China lacks up-to-date evidence on the nationwide antibiotic use in different healthcare settings. The changes of China's antibiotic use under the COVID-19 pandemic are still unknown. This study aimed to investigate the use of antibiotics in China's public medical institutions based on a three-year nationwide surveillance and to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on China's antibiotic consumption.

The impact of National Centralised Drug Procurement policy on the use of policy-related original and generic drugs in China.

Aims: To evaluate the effects of the first round of National Centralised Drug Procurement pilot (so-called '4+7' policy) on the use of policy-related original and generic drugs.

Methods: This study used drug purchasing order data from the Centralised Drug Procurement Survey in Shenzhen 2019, covering 24 months from January 2018 to December 2019. '4+7' policy-related drugs were selected as study samples, including 25 drugs in the '4+7' procurement list and 69 alternative drugs that have an alternative relationship with '4+7' List drugs in clinical use.

The impact of "4 + 7" volume-based drug procurement on the volume, expenditures, and daily costs of antihypertensive drugs in Shenzhen, China: an interrupted time series analysis.

Background: In 2019, Chinese government launched a nationwide volume-based drug procurement aiming at reducing drug prices and saving drug costs through economies of scale, which aroused widespread attention. The first round of the policy pilot was implemented in 4 municipalities and 7 sub-provincial cities, referred to as "4 + 7" policy. In the "4 + 7" policy, 7 antihypertensive drugs were included.

The Effects of the National Centralized Drug Purchasing Pilot Program on Nucleos(t)ide Analogs in Shenzhen City: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis.

To assess the effects of the National Centralized Drug Purchasing Pilot Program on nucleos(t)ide analogs (NAs) in Shenzhen city. Drugs procurement records in medical institutions were analyzed covering the period from January 2018 to December 2019. An interrupted time series (ITS) analysis was used to evaluate the impact of the "4+7" pilot policy on NAs in Shenzhen city.

Influence of Chinese National Centralized Drug Procurement on the price of policy-related drugs: an interrupted time series analysis.

Background: The Chinese government implemented the first round of National Centralized Drug Procurement (NCDP) pilot (so-called "4 + 7" policy) in mainland China in 2019. This study aims to examine the impact of "4 + 7" policy on the price of policy-related drugs.

Methods: This study used drug purchasing order data from the Centralized Drug Procurement Survey in Shenzhen 2019, covering 24 months from January 2018 to December 2019.

Research capacity of global health institutions in China: a gap analysis focusing on their collaboration with other low-income and middle-income countries.

Introduction: This paper presented qualitative and quantitative data collected on the research capacity of global health institutions in China and aimed to provide a landscaping review of the development of global health as a new discipline in the largest emerging economy of the world.

Methods: Mixed methods were used and they included a bibliometric analysis, a standardised survey and indepth interviews with top officials of 11 selected global health research and educational institutions in mainland China.

Results: The bibliometric analysis revealed that each institution had its own focus areas, some with a balanced focus among chronic illness, infectious disease and health systems, while others only focused on one of these areas.

The impacts of Chinese drug volume-based procurement policy on the use of policy-related antibiotic drugs in Shenzhen, 2018-2019: an interrupted time-series analysis.

Background: In 2019, Chinese government implemented volume-based procurement of 25 drugs in 4 municipalities and 7 sub-provincial cities, i.e. "4 + 7" policy.

The Impacts of National Centralized Drug Procurement Policy on Drug Utilization and Drug Expenditures: The Case of Shenzhen, China.

In 2019, the Chinese government implemented the first round of the National Centralized Drug Procurement (NCDP) pilot (so-called "4 + 7" policy) in mainland China, in which 25 drugs were included. We conducted this study to examine the impacts of NCDP policy on drug utilization and expenditures, and to clarify the main factors contributing to drug expenditure changes. This study used drug purchasing order data from the Centralized Drug Procurement Survey in Shenzhen 2019.

Trends and Associated Factors of Dietary Knowledge among Chinese Older Residents: Results from the China Health and Nutrition Survey 2004-2015.

Promoting a healthy diet of the elderly is an important task in the current "Healthy China Action". This study aimed to describe the changing trends of the dietary knowledge elderly Chinese during 2004-2015 and to examine the associated factors of dietary knowledge. Elderly people aged ≥60 years were included as study subjects from the China Health and Nutrition Survey 2004-2015.