Page 211 - GHES-3-2

Global Health Economics and
Sustainability

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
COVID-19 pandemic health expenditures and

family economic behaviors: China health and
retirement longitudinal study (CHARLS)

2,3
Shawn Dinh 1† , Wupeng Yin 2† , Niliarys Sifre-Acosta 1 , and Nan Hu *
1 Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, FIU Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social
Work, Miami, Florida, United States of America
2 Department of Biostatistics, FIU Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Miami,
Florida, United States of America
3 Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake
City, Utah, United States of America

Abstract
† These authors contributed equally
to this work. Since the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, there has been a total
Academic editor: of 776 million confirmed infection cases worldwide with both countries, China
Mihajlo Jakovljevic M.D. Ph.D. MAE and the US contributing a substantial number of cases. Aside from the grand
*Corresponding author: number of cases, the pandemic has also demonstrated a worldwide financial toll.
Nan Hu Specifically, as of May 20, 2020, China has been reported to obtain a cost of $373.20
(nhu@fiu.edu)
million in overall patient hospitalizations. Yet, aside from these hospitalizations,
Citation: Dinh, S., Yin, W., Sifre- the purchasing of personal protective equipment (PPE) to mitigate one’s risk for
Acosta, N., & Hu, N. (2025). infection can also be expensive. In addition, the pandemic itself has resulted
COVID-19 pandemic health
expenditures and family economic in a wealth of businesses shutting down worldwide, consequently resulting in
behaviors: China health and job losses and attenuated income for workers worldwide. Thus, exploring the
retirement longitudinal study behavior of PPE purchasing by primary respondents of individual households
(CHARLS). Global Health Econ
Sustain, 3(2):203-213. as well as the degree in mediating their expenses following the pandemic was
https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.6619 the focus of this study. Specifically, the present investigation sought to examine
Received: November 28, 2024 the association between medical and fitness expenditure toward PPE purchasing
behavior for mainland residents of China aged 45+ due to the lack of existing
1st revised: January 22, 2025
literature examining this relationship from the best of our knowledge. The former
2nd revised: February 15, 2025 relates to both direct and indirect medical expenses whilst the latter refers to
Accepted: February 19, 2025 the purchasing of exercise equipment and health supplements. Second, these
expenditures were further utilized to explore its association with the level of ease
Published online: March 26, 2025
in covering expenses following the pandemic as well. This was a secondary data
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s). analysis that used cross-sectional data from the China Health and Retirement
This is an Open Access article Longitudinal Study database, wherein generalized linear mixed effects models
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution were applied in examining the associations. Both medical and fitness expenditure
License, permitting distribution, were insignificant predictors of PPE purchasing behavior whilst they expressed
and reproduction in any medium, a significant association toward predicting the degree of ease for the included
provided the original work is
properly cited. participants in covering their daily expenses following the onset of the pandemic.
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with Keywords: Health expenditure; Personal protective equipment; Household expenditure
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional coverage; Coronavirus disease 2019; Economical behaviors
affiliations.

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 203 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.6619