Abstract: Objective To analyze the hospitalization behavior and related influencing factors among upper digestive tract cancer patients in rural areas,and provide reference for the promotion of early hospitalization. Methods The total of 1 235 stomach and esophagus cancer cases were randomly selected from cancer registration system of 12 counties in Henan,Shandong,Jiangsu and Anhui Provinces.All of the patients were the new and survival cases in 2013.The face-to-face interview was conducted to collect the information on demographic characteristics,whether knowing his/her illness condition,whether seeking the medical service,and the condition of diagnosis,hospitalization and treatment.The statistical analysis was conducted by using SAS 9.3. Results Among the 1 182 patients with complete basic information,there were 859 stomach cancer cases(72.7%) and 323 esophagus cancer cases (27.3%).The proportion of farmer was 90.3%.There were 906 cases had been hospitalized,accounting for 76.6%.The proportion of patients who did not know the illness condition was 39.4%.There were 47.1% patients having metastasized cancer,48.2% patients being the late stage of cancer,and 32.3% patients having not adapt any radiotherapy,chemoradiotherapy and surgery.The univariate analysis showed that the educational level,occupation,marital status,whether knowing the illness condition,whether having metastasized cancer and tumor staging were statistically related with hospitalization.The multiple logistic regression analysis showed that patients with education levels of middle school[OR=2.2,95%CI(1.4,3.7)] and high school or above[OR=6.5,95%CI(1.5,27.8)] were more likely to be hospitalized compared to those with education level of elementary school or below.Compared with unmarried,divorced and widowed patients,married patients was 2.1[95%CI(1.5,2.9)] times being hospitalized.Compared with patients who did not know the illness condition,patients who knew the condition were 1.5 times[95%CI(1.1,2.1)] being hospitalized.Compared with patients in early stage of cancer,patients in late stage were 0.3 times[95%CI(0.2,0.5)] being hospitalized. Conclusion The educational level,marital status,whether knowing his/her own illness,and stage of the illness were the main factors affecting patients' hospitalization.