ArticlePloS one2022
Health care seeking behaviour and financial protection of patients with hypertension: A cross-sectional study in rural West Bengal, India.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health-seeking behavior and healthcare utilization among patients with non-communicable diseases in India: insights from a systematic review.BMC health services research · 2025Pooled it
- Health-seeking behavior and its determinants for non-communicable diseases in India - a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Determinants of outpatient healthcare-seeking behaviors among the rural poor affected by chronic conditions in India: a population-based cross-sectional study in seven states.Global health action · 2025Article
- Article
- Association of social determinants of health and their cumulative inequities with risk of hypertension: a population-based study.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Article
- Hypertension Among Cohort of Persons With Human Immunodeficiency Virus Initiated on a Dolutegravir-Based Antiretroviral Regimen in Ghana.Open forum infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Treatment seeking behaviour and associated factors among adults with high blood pressure from three selected states in Nigeria.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Facilitators and barriers to hypertension management in urban Nepal: findings from a qualitative study.Open heart · 2023Article
- Behavioral deviations: healthcare-seeking behavior of chronic disease patients with intention to visit primary health care institutions.BMC health services research · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundElevated blood pressure or hypertension is responsible for around 10 million annual deaths globally, and people residing in low and middle-income countries are disproportionately affected by it. India is no exception, where low rate of treatment seeking for hypertension coupled with widespread out-of-pocket payments (OOPs) have been a challenge. This study assessed the pattern of health care seeking behaviour and financial protection along with the associated factors among hypertensive individuals in rural West Bengal, India. METHOD AND
findingsA cross-sectional study was conducted in Birbhum district of the state of West Bengal, India, during 2017-2018, where 300 individuals were recruited randomly from a list of hypertensives in a population cohort. Healthcare seeking for hypertension and related financial protection in terms of-OOPs and expenses relative to monthly per-capita family expenditure, were analysed. Findings indicated that 47% of hypertensives were not on treatment. Among those under treatment, 80% preferred non-public facilities, and 91% of them had wide-spread OOPs. Cost of medication was a major share of expenses followed by transportation cost to access public health care facility. Multivariable logistic regression analysis indicated longer duration of disease (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 5.68, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.24-25.99) and health care seeking from non-public establishment (aOR: 34.33, CI: 4.82-244.68) were associated with more incident of OOPs. Linear regression with generalized linear model revealed presence of co-morbidities (adjusted coefficient (aCoeff)10.28, CI: 4.96,15.61) and poorer economic groups (aCoeffpoorest 11.27, CI 3.82,18.71; aCoefflower-middle 7.83, CI 0.65,15.00 and aCoeffupper-middle 7.25, CI: 0.80,13.70) had higher relative expenditure.
conclusionThis study suggests that individuals with hypertension had poor health care seeking behaviour, preferred non-public health facilities and had suboptimal financial protection. Economically poorer individuals had higher burden of health expenditure for treatment of hypertension, which indicated gaps in equitable health care delivery for the control of hypertension.
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