ArticleBMJ open2022
Changes in pharmaceutical retail market and regional inequality of community pharmacists accessibility in mainland China: a retrospective cross-sectional study.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Feasibility of peer-assisted interprofessional learning between pharmacy and exercise physiology students in providing integrated care.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Design and Implementation of a Competency-Based Training Program for Specialty Pharmacists in China.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Current status of pharmacists in community pharmacies in China in the health management of chronic respiratory diseases.BMC public health · 2025Article
- From Command-Control to Lifecycle Regulation: Balancing Innovation and Safety in China's Pharmaceutical Legislation.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Research on government regulation methods for the spatial layout of retail pharmacies: practice in Shanghai, China.International journal for equity in health · 2024Article
- Intelligent medication manager: developing and implementing a mobile application based on WeChat.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo describe the development of pharmaceutical retail market and community pharmacists in mainland China and identify challenges from both government and business perspectives.
designA retrospective cross-sectional study.
settingCommunity pharmacies providing primary care in mainland China.
participantsCommunity pharmacies and community pharmacists in all 31 provincial units in mainland China registered in the National Medical Products Administration during 2014-2020. Number of community pharmacies ranged from 433 529 (2014) to 553 892 (2020). Number of community pharmacists ranged from 129 895 (2014) to 541 264 (2020). PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in pharmaceutical retail market and accessibility of community pharmacists over the study period. We also examined the qualification of pharmacists and regional differences.
resultsDuring 2014-2020, the total number of retail companies and pharmacies increased by 47.6% and 27.4%, respectively. The national retail chain rate boosted from 39.4% to 56.5%, and average number of stores per company increased from 40.2 to 49.7. The number of community pharmacists rose by 316.7%. Regarding accessibility, number of pharmacy stores per 10 000 inhabitants increased from 3.2 to 3.9; the average number of pharmacists per store and per 10 000 residents rose from 0.30 to 0.98 and from 0.95 to 3.83. However, the proportion holding a postgraduate or bachelor's degree dropped to one-third. Pharmacy resources were unevenly distributed across the country. Correlations were observed between economic indicators and number of pharmacy stores and pharmacists (p<0.05).
conclusionsIn general, the accessibility and centralisation of retail pharmacies in China have shown a steady growth with a sign of regional disparities. The availability of community pharmacists has increased significantly, although with an unreasonable composition of academic qualifications and a shortage of personnel. Further efforts are necessary to provide sufficient pharmacy resources for community settings and resolve regional disparities.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.