Evidence mapPaperPMID 42051995Full record

ArticleFrontiers in public health2026

Can sports consumption cities reduce residents' medical expenditures? Evidence from China.

Ziwen Zhang, Meichao Cheng, Jingting Ni, Shun Wang

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Ziwen ZhangSchool of Physical Education, Huai Bei Normal University, Huaibei, Anhui, China.
Meichao ChengSchool of Physical Education, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
Jingting NiDepartment of Sport and Leisure Studies, Namseoul University, Cheonan-si, Republic of Korea.
Shun WangSchool of Physical Education, Huai Bei Normal University, Huaibei, Anhui, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The relentless rise in healthcare expenditures poses a severe challenge to the sustainable development of global societies. In China, a pilot program for Sports Consumption Cities (SCC) represents a pioneering strategic effort to align growth in the sports industry with public health promotion. This study aims to examine the causal impact of this city-level non-medical intervention on residents' medical expenditures and to elucidate how active lifestyle policies function as a cost-control strategy. Methods: Using longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2014 to 2022, we employed a Difference-in-Differences (DID) strategy to evaluate the impact of SCC construction on residents' medical expenditures. Additionally, a mediation model was applied to examine four parallel pathways: sports consumption, physical exercise frequency, self-rated health, and depression levels. The findings were validated using instrumental variable methods with historical data and rigorous robustness tests. Results: The construction of the SCC significantly reduced residents' medical expenditures by 10.86% (β = -0.115, Conclusion: This study provides compelling empirical evidence that the SCC construction effectively validates the "exercise as medicine" hypothesis at the urban governance level. By optimizing the urban health environment, the pilot project has driven a paradigm shift from passive medical treatment to proactive health management. However, the identified structural heterogeneity underscores the need for future policies to embrace inclusive precision governance. Targeted subsidies for mobility-constrained households and the integration of exercise prescriptions into chronic disease management are crucial to ensuring the equitable distribution of health dividends across all socioeconomic strata.

Indexed as

Health ExpendituresHealth PromotionSportsAdultChinaCitiesExerciseFemaleHealth BehaviorHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle AgedCFPSChinadifference-in-differencemedical expenditurespilotsports consumption cities

Identifiers

PMID42051995
PMCPMC13111348

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

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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 Socratic graph.