ArticleAnnals of translational medicine2020
Exploring the growth patterns of medical demand for eye care: a longitudinal hospital-level study over 10 years in China.
Article in Annals of translational medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Artificial intelligence for pathologic myopia classification based on the META-PM system: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Pooled it
- Predicting systemic diseases in fundus images: systematic review of setting, reporting, bias, and models' clinical availability in deep learning studies.Eye (London, England) · 2024Pooled it
- Impact assessment of the ophthalmology discipline construction project at Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital.Health research policy and systems · 2025Article
- Undiagnosed glaucoma and its risk factors in the Yinzhou community-based glaucoma screening program.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Validity of OSDI-6 questionnaire in a Chinese adult population.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Development and validation of a simple and practical model for early detection of diabetic macular edema in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus using easily accessible systemic variables.Journal of translational medicine · 2024Observational
- Ophthalmology workforce over a decade in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: demographics, distribution, and future challenges.Human resources for health · 2024Article
- Trends in Health Service Use for Dry Eye Disease From 2017 to 2021: A Real-World Analysis of 369,755 Outpatient Visits.Translational vision science & technology · 2024Article
- Configurations associated with the efficiency of the ophthalmology departments in public hospitals of Central South China.PloS one · 2024Article
- Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis of the diagnostic accuracy of artificial intelligence for grading of ophthalmology imaging modalities.Diagnostic and prognostic research · 2022Article
- Trends in Outpatient Prescribing Patterns for Ocular Topical Anti-Infectives in Six Major Areas of China, 2013-2019.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Forecast of Outpatient Visits to a Tertiary Eyecare Network in India Using the EyeSmart Electronic Medical Record System.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe increasing demand for eye care inflicts a heavy burden on the eye care system. The uneven distribution of demand dynamically exacerbates the supply-demand imbalance. Systematic explorations of the growth patterns of the demand for eye care are needed to detect potential influences on the safety and quality of medical services.
methodsThis is an observational longitudinal study at the hospital level. We exported 8 million outpatient visit records over 10 years from the electronic health record (EHR) system of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC). The total visits to all levels of medical institutions in China were collected from the websites of the China National Statistics Bureau. The target 10-year period was from Jan 1, 2008, to Dec 31, 2017. Revisit intervals were analysed to assess the stickiness of patient demand. The proportions of non-local patients (from cities other than Guangzhou in Guangdong Province, or provinces other than Guangdong Province in China) were analysed to assess flowing demand liquidity.
resultsVisits to medical institutions continuously increased over the examined period (2008-2017) in China. Increasing patient visits and corresponding supplementation of doctors broke the supply-demand balance at ZOC. In terms of the temporal aspect, uneven distributions over cycles of weeks and years, referred to as Monday peaks and vacation peaks, became more evident during the examined period. With respect to geography, the coverage of demand sources expanded to the whole nation, and the flowing demand accounted for higher proportions at both the city and province levels. Subdepartments of ophthalmology had diverse growth speeds and proportions of flowing demand. Patients presented higher stickiness with shorter revisit intervals, and non-locals had higher stickiness than local patients.
conclusionsThe growth patterns of demand for eye care indicate potential challenges for ophthalmologists at the hospital level, including regular workload peaks, a wider range of patients with diverse cultural backgrounds, and higher stickiness of patients.
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