Medical resources and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) mortality rate: Evidence and implications from Hubei province in China

Lin Xie; Hualei Yang; Xiaodong Zheng; Yuanyang Wu; Xueyu Lin; Zheng Shen

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0244867

Medical resources and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) mortality rate: Evidence and implications from Hubei province in China

PLoS One. 2021 Jan 15;16(1):e0244867. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244867. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Lin Xie¹, Hualei Yang², Xiaodong Zheng³, Yuanyang Wu², Xueyu Lin², Zheng Shen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institution of Population and Labor Economics, The Chinese Academy of Social Science, Beijing, China.
² School of Public Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China.
³ School of Economics, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ School of Economics and Management, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China.

Abstract

In light of the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, this study aims to examine the relationship between the availability of public health resources and the mortality rate of this disease. We conducted empirical analyses using linear regression, a time-varying effect model, and a regression discontinuity design to investigate the association of medical resources with the mortality rate of the COVID-19 patients in Hubei, China. The results showed that the numbers of hospital beds, healthcare system beds, and medical staff per confirmed cases all had significant negative effects on the coronavirus disease mortality rate. Furthermore, in the context of the severe pandemic currently being experienced worldwide, the present study summarized the experience and implications in pandemic prevention and control in Hubei province from the perspective of medical resource integration as follows: First, hospitals' internal medical resources were integrated, breaking interdepartmental barriers. Second, joint pandemic control was realized by integrating regional healthcare system resources. Finally, an external medical resource allocation system was developed.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19 / epidemiology
COVID-19 / mortality*
China / epidemiology
Demography / statistics & numerical data
Health Resources / statistics & numerical data
Humans
Mortality / trends

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China to XZ (Grant numbers:72003173), the Humanities and Social Science Fund of the Ministry of Education of China to XZ and HY (Grant numbers: 20YJC790187 and 19YJC790167), Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, China to XZ (Grant number: LY21G030008), Project Funding of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Students of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law to XL (Grant number: 202010520030) and the Scientific Research Foundation of Zhejiang A&F University to ZS (Grant number: 2018FR023). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.