Education as a moderator in the effect of successful aging on mortality risk in elderly Chinese: A national longitudinal study (2011-2016)

Abstract

Background Some literatures have found that successful aging and its components were significantly associated with older adults’ health, their achievement has a positive effect on reducing mortality rates. However, there is little evidence to discuss whether education modified the effect of successful aging on morality risk. A majority of literatures from worldwide were cross-sectional andprevious studies on the association between successful aging and mortality in China are quite little. It aims to evaluate the effect of successful aging and each of its components on mortality risk of older in China and further discussed whether education was a moderator in this effect. It also investigated differences in results among males and females. Methods Data was collected from CHARLS (China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study), which is a nationally representative follow-up survey. Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the education's moderate effect on the relationship between successful aging and mortality. Results In total, 4824 residents aged 60 years and above were recorded. 15.18%(n=367)for males and 15.74%(n=379) for females were defined as successful aging and the mortality were 2.61%(n=63)for males and 3.45%(n=83) for females during the survey. It is the first longitudinal study using national cohort data to research the educational effects on the association between mortality and successful aging, the study showed that the effect only existed in females aged 65-74 years old group with lower education. Conclusions Education has the significant effect on the relationship between successful aging and mortality. Physical health is significantly associated with the achieving of successful aging among young older. More measures should be paid on improving mental health among the young female older with lower education to achieve successful aging and to against mortality and live longevity.

Research on Mortality Risk of Chinese Older Adults from the Perspective of Social Health

“…In contrast to social support in the form of life care and spiritual support, which are more effective in reducing the mortality risk among older adults, financial support is less effective in improving the survival status of older adults in China. However, this does not imply that financial support is unrelated to the mortality risk among older adults, as even those without pensions can receive financial and medical support from their families to make up for their lack of income, indirectly demonstrating the importance of social support from family in enhancing the health status of older adults [19].…”