How the built environment affects change in older people's physical activity: A mixed- methods approach using longitudinal health survey data in urban China

Physical activity and chronic diseases among older people in a mid-size city in China: a longitudinal investigation of bipolar effects

“…The normal range values provided by the hospital were used to determine if a test was normal or abnormal. These normal range values were checked against the same diseases provided in the Merck Manuals [ 32 – 37 ] (See detailed classification standards at [ 38 ]. For reference, the normal range values for Cr (< 1.39 mg/dl) and BUN (< 23.3 mg/dl) were slightly higher than the U.S. standards (1.2 mg/dl and 20 mg/dl, respectively) [ 39 ].…”

Exploring the Associations of Walking Behavior with Neighborhood Environments by Different Life Stages: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Smaller Chinese City

“…During the post-1949 socialist era in China, Mao's egalitarian policies [45] meant that people who worked for the same state-owned enterprise lived together, regardless of their working position, forming what was called a work unit housing system [46,47]. Most units provided an integrated neighborhood environment of work, residence, and services (i.e., land-use mix) [21], as a walkable and sociable neighborhood. Those who experienced this dramatic transformation of the built environment and the huge shift in everyday life in their childhood, are now aged between 50 and 60.…”

“…The college entrance examination was reinstated in 1977, which led to lower educational attainments in people who were over 40 during the time of our research. In the late 1990s, after the reform, people with higher incomes tended to move out, and the work units were less well-maintained and gradually decreased in number [21,26] According to the understanding above and the age groups used in a study of socio-spatial segregation in China [48], the "working age population" was divided into three life stages (TLS): late adolescents (aged [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25], young adults (aged [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35], and middle-aged adults (aged . The classification of TLS was discussed and refined twice with the local participants:…”

“…The older people in our study generally had lower educational attainments (Table 1), suggesting a different classification for advantaged/disadvantaged groups compared to other two life stages. Furthermore, middle-aged adults were ambivalent about consumption, possibly owing to their experience growing up (e.g., egalitarian policy and collectivism in state-owned enterprises) [21,[45][46][47], revealing that the same amenities have different degrees of attraction to different life stages. Older people are willing to spend money to provide a higher-quality growth environment for their children, but their daily consumption is extremely low.…”

“…Although many Chinese scholars have acknowledged problems arising from rapid urbanization and urban expansion, most of them have focused on social differentiation, equality and justice [17][18][19][20]. In recent years, a few studies in relation to walkability have been conducted in large Chinese cities, such as Shanghai [14,21], Shenzhen [22], Hong Kong [13,[23][24][25], Xi'an [26], and Hangzhou [14]. Some inconsistent findings and even contrary conclusions have been found in the Chinese context.…”