Abstract:
The number of medical visits is one of the important indicators to measure the health equality of residents. In this paper, zero-inflated Poisson regression model and a treatment effect model were constructed using stepwise regression to explore the positive impact of residents' physical activity on the number of medical visits from the perspective of health inequality. The results showed that the number of medical visits increased with the age of residents, and the number of medical visits of residents with different demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status showed a "divergence effect", at the same time health inequality was prominent. Also, the income and physical activities had certain inhibitory effect on the overall number of medical visits, among which, income showed a significant "divergence effect" while physical activity showed both significant inhibitory effect and "convergence effect", differed among residents with different demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status. The inhibitory effect of physical activity on the number of medical visits for women, low-income residents, and residents aged 45 and above was significant, showing a "parallel effect" in which the differences in the number of medical visits for residents of different genders, cities, and incomes did not vary with age, but physical activity failed to change health inequalities caused by socioeconomic status.