Health Consumption Becomes a New Essential for Young Chinese: What Are They Buying?

Young People’s “Backing Down” Starts with Being Afraid to Look at Their Medical Checkup Reports.

As society rapidly evolves, the younger generation—the backbone of the workforce—is currently under immense pressure. Irregular eating and sleep patterns caused by overtime work and late nights have led health-conscious young people to worry about every warning signal their bodies emit.

The young people who once had “a tiger in their heart, sniffing the rose” are now “as frail as a sick cat, relying on goji berries to stay alive,” and have begun to truly prioritize their health.

During the 2020 “Double 11” period,“Post-95s” Health Consumption Surges by More Than Two-Foldwith health checkup packages, medical dressings, and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines ranking as the top three “health products most purchased by the post-95 generation” on Tmall Pharmacy.

During this year’s 618 Shopping Festival, Pinduoduo, as a new e-commerce platform, released the “2021 H1 New Youth Consumption Trends.” According to these data, in the past six months,Young Consumers’ Spending Trends Are More Pronounced, with “Health” Becoming the Key Consumption Keyword in the Past Six Months。

At the just-concluded healthcare industry event known as the “Double 11” of the medical sector,“Ping An 9.9 Health Festival”Young people have also stood out, becoming the “main force” in health consumption.The premium precision health screening package, priced at the highest tier and targeted at corporate elites, generated over 200,000 in sales during the holiday season.

This is, in fact, driven by the dual forces of market demand and technological advancement.On one hand, young people, who are gradually becoming the backbone of society and families, are facing increasing life pressures and potential risks. Compared to premature consumption, the concept of holistic health and a healthy lifestyle resonates more deeply with them. This also indicates that young people’s awareness of health risks is continuously strengthening, and spending on health has become the most immediate and effective way for them to mitigate these risks.

On the other hand, from a technical perspective.Alongside the rapid development of the internet economy, an efficient, convenient, and intelligent “Internet+” shopping and consumption system based on big data has begun to permeate the healthcare sector extensively. While serving as a new avenue for profit growth, it has also subtly transformed people’s consumption habits.

It is a fact that young people are afraid to look at their physical examination reports, but it is also true that their enthusiasm for health screening services is continuously rising.

Especially for young people who have been under high pressure for a long time, they are more "addicted" to testing services.Because regular check-ups are the most effective way to “defuse mines” for your own health.

Liu Guang (a pseudonym), a corporate executive born in the 1990s, underwent a health screening at a Ping An Health (Diagnostic) Center in Anhui Province in July 2020, following strong recommendations from friends.

This seemingly routine test saved Liu Guang’s (pseudonym) life. During a cranial MRA examination, physicians at the diagnostic center detected a minute abnormality at the terminal segment of his left internal carotid artery. Recognizing the potential significance, they promptly initiated a multidisciplinary consultation involving the center’s director and department heads, who recommended that Liu undergo further evaluation with head and neck CTA, which offers higher spatial resolution.

After careful review of the images by the imaging physician team at the Testing Center, the diagnostic results from the head and neck CTA were found to be consistent with those from the cranial MRA, confirming that Liu Guang suffers from an aneurysm. Given Liu Guang’s lack of medical history of hypertension, diabetes, or hyperlipidemia, the expert team at Ping An Health (Testing) Center analyzed that the likely cause is a congenital developmental abnormality of the intracranial vascular wall.

Aneurysms are initially asymptomatic, representing a latent and dangerous condition. It was thanks to this precise examination that Liu Guang discovered this “ticking time bomb,” enabling timely treatment while the disease was still in a manageable stage.

According to the latest data from the World Health Organization, in 2020, China recorded 4.57 million new cancer cases and 3 million cancer-related deaths. One in every four new cancer patients globally was in China, with approximately 12,500 people diagnosed with cancer daily nationwide. Data monitored by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) reveals an increasingly pronounced trend of younger cancer patients in China; the cancer prevalence among individuals aged 15–49 has risen from 0.35% to 0.89%.

90% of cancers may be asymptomatic during the latent period, but by the time symptoms appear, most have already reached an advanced stage. Therefore, the best approach to combating cancer is regular preventive screening.Only by increasing cancer screening rates and encouraging more people to proactively participate in health screenings can we achieve a positive impact on reducing cancer mortality.

Industry research has found that currently only 16% of people in China are conducting health screenings correctly, while the remaining 84% are still in incorrect testing environments.This is mainly manifested in the absence of tailored examination items and a lack of continuous post-examination follow-up management.For most young people, health screenings are indeed conducted, but in essence, they are not carried out thoroughly.

What Are Young People’s True Demands for Health?

First is authority, which is mainly reflected in professional medical capabilities.In the advanced early-warning screening phase, consumers have higher expectations for institutions' diagnostic capabilities, hoping that medical institutions will demonstrate robust professionalism across all aspects of comprehensive quality, including equipment, experts, and services.

Yang Hai (pseudonym), 28, received a preliminary clinical diagnosis of myeloma in early 2020, which came as a bolt from the blue for the young man.

In May 2020, to identify the cause of his condition and rule out other malignant tumors, Yang Hai underwent a high-precision PET/CT examination at the Ping An Health (Diagnostic) Center. After reviewing the imaging report, the center’s physicians conducted a multidisciplinary consultation and analysis. They found no definitive primary tumor on whole-body PET/CT imaging, nor any bone destruction or abnormal hypermetabolism throughout the skeleton. However, paravertebral soft tissue swelling with gas accumulation was observed. Given that MRI scans performed at an external hospital suggested multiple myeloma and that neck pain was the most prominent symptom, it was recommended that Yang Hai undergo cervical spine MRI at the center to further exclude PET false-negative neoplastic lesions.

Following the cervical spine MRI, radiologists at the center carefully compared and discussed the findings with PET/CT images. The diagnostic results were consistent with those of the PET/CT scan, ruling out a diagnosis of malignancy in Yang Hai, as well as bone metastasis or other malignant tumors. This finally alleviated the anxiety that had weighed on Yang Hai for nearly six months.

Yang Hai’s story is highly typical in the development history of third-party medical institutions.Socially funded medical institutions, represented by Ping An Health (Testing) Center, are gradually entering a fast track of development under favorable policy conditions. By providing professional services with comprehensive medical capabilities, their “medical credentials” are increasingly gaining recognition from both the state and the public.

The latest equipment approval status serves as strong evidence of this. In the list of approved Class A large-scale medical equipment released by the National Health Commission in July this year, Ping An Health (Testing) Center was included. As a health testing institution located at the front end of the medical diagnostic process, it obtained qualifications alongside renowned public tertiary hospitals in China, such as Peking Union Medical College Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University.

Obtaining a Class A medical institution practicing license requires the organization to possess abundant achievements in clinical practice, scientific research, and education, as well as strong capabilities in discipline development. The first-ever approval granted to a third-party medical institution marks national recognition of the professional and comprehensive medical capabilities of private healthcare providers, thereby offering consumers greater peace of mind and trust.

Next is comfort; consumers show a clear preference for high-priced testing services.During this “9.9 Health Festival,” among the various health screening packages launched by Ping An Health (Diagnostic) Center, traditional DR and CT scans can no longer meet consumer demand.More advanced and precise PET/CT systems and capsule gastroscopes have become star products.

NoteworthyCapsule Gastroscopy, although the unit price is as high as 3,000 to 4,000 yuan, it is painless and precise compared with traditional gastroscopy, offering an excellent user experience, thus gaining widespread popularity and achieving impressive transaction volumes.

Finally, there is convenience: specialized examinations can be conducted right at your doorstep.In the current landscape of healthcare challenges in China, accessibility to medical services remains a significant hurdle. This is primarily because high-quality medical resources are concentrated in first-tier cities, forcing residents of second- and third-tier cities—with their large populations—to expend considerable effort and financial resources to travel to first-tier cities in order to access the most premium medical care.

In active response to the national policy on tiered diagnosis and treatment, third-party medical institutions have begun to assume multi-level healthcare service functions. As a key member of Ping An’s comprehensive healthcare ecosystem, Ping An Health (Testing) Center serves as a robust platform for promoting the sharing of regional medical resources. Among the eight flagship centers participating in this “9.9 Health Festival,” only one is located in Guangzhou, traditionally classified as a megacity. The remaining seven are strategically distributed across China, radiating from key cities—including Nanchang, Wuhan, Xiangyang, Hefei, Chongqing, Xiamen, and Shenyang—to surrounding areas. This point-to-area approach has established a nationwide healthcare service network covering North, Central, South, and Southwest China.

The flagship center in a “non-tier-1” city delivered performance metrics during the “9.9 Health Festival” that even surpassed those of tier-1 cities, effectively demonstrating its capacity as a professional medical institution to drive improvements in healthcare services across surrounding cities.

The achievement is partly attributable to the quality of its medical equipment.It is reported that flagship centers are equipped with a range of top-tier medical devices, including 256-slice low-dose spiral CT scanners, 3.0T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, and PET/CT scanners, enabling the public to access world-class advanced imaging services right in their local communities.

On the other hand, it pertains to service coverage.Taking the Hefei Center as an example, consumers from surrounding cities such as Lu’an, Tongling, and Anqing have flocked to Hefei for testing. This trend has not only enhanced the convenience of accessing medical care but also significantly reduced healthcare costs, aligning closely with the core principles of the “Quality Services at the Grassroots Level” initiative proposed by the National Health Commission.

Everyone is the primary person responsible for their own health, and testing serves as the first line of defense in maintaining it. We are pleased to see that a growing number of young people are beginning to prioritize their personal health and are willing to pay for related services. At the same time, we must recognize that, compared with clinical care, China’s medical testing services remain relatively underdeveloped and require continuous improvement in the future. Efforts should be made to provide high-quality, accessible testing services to a broader base of users, which is of great significance for achieving the objectives outlined in the “Healthy China 2030” guidelines.