Healthcare-seeking behavior study on Beijing Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease Patients

Healthcare-seeking behavior (HSB) is the motivation of formulating, developing and changing healthcare policy and medical insurance system, also the important reference of reforming and improving healthcare systems. This paper mainly focused on exploring 'Patterns-Drivers' of HSB using a case study on Beijing Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease (HFMD) in China. We extracted the index for HSB and constructed the networks using the heterogeneous information from patients' records, clarified the spatial-temporal distribution of HSB and examined spatial association between HSB and socioeconomic factors using Geographically Weighted Regression. It was found that HFMD morbidity, the spatial distribution of kindergarten, the scale of the public infrastructures such as the park and the toilet was the important local drivers of HSB. The outcome based on the application of complex networks, geographic information system and spatial statistical techniques would provide valuable information supporting the optimal allocation of health resources and decision-making in disease control and prevention.