The Evolutionary Trends of Health Behaviors in Chinese Elderly and the Influencing Factors of These Trends: 2005–2014

Abstract

As China is now facing the severe challenge of rapid population ageing, the health behaviors in Chinese elderly people are of great significance for realizing the goal of “Healthy Ageing” and the construction of a “Healthy China”. Little is known about the evolutionary trends of health behaviors in the Chinese elderly and about the factors influencing these trends; thus, the purposes of this paper are: (1) To describe the classes and evolutionary trends of health behaviors in the Chinese elderly; and (2) to explore the factors that influence the changes in the health behaviors in the elderly in China. Latent class analysis (LCA) is applied in this study to analyze the classes of health behaviors in the Chinese elderly. Growth mixture modelling (GMM) is employed to describe the evolutionary trends of the health behaviors in elderly people in China. In addition, the Bivariate analysis model is adopted to identify the influencing factors of the evolution of health behaviors. The data were derived from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) from 2005 to 2014. The results reveal that the health behaviors in the Chinese elderly can be grouped into five classes: Negative, relatively negative, fair, relatively positive, and positive. Approximately 77.2% of the health behaviors in the Chinese elderly have the characteristics of “modified”, with a positive tendency. Moreover, approximately 22.8% of the health behaviors in Chinese elderly people have the characteristics of “non-modified”, with a negative tendency or remaining unchanged. The evolution of the health behaviors in the elderly in China is more affected by economic factors such as timely medical treatment during childhood, pension, occupations before the age of 60 and family income, as well as by self-rated health (SRH) and demographic characteristics such as household registration, age, and education level. Hence, various possible interventions should be made to improve the health behaviors in elderly people.

Changes in Cognitive Function and Risk Factors for Cognitive Impairment of the Elderly in China: 2005–2014

“…As the currently largest survey in the world in terms of health and longevity, a baseline survey was conducted in 1998, followed by six waves of surveys in 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2014 from 22 sample areas in 31 provincial administrative units (Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Shanxi, and Hainan), which constituted 85% of the total population and covered the eastern, middle and western regions, as well as northeast China. The survey randomly selected around one-half of the counties in the 22 provinces as primary survey units [48,49,50]. The initial survey, participants were who aged 80 years and above in 1998 were followed in subsequent waves 2 to 3 years apart.…”

The evolution trend of availability of China’s community-based care services and its impact on the cognitive function of elderly people: 2008-2018

“…The CLHLS study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Peking University (IRB00001052–13074). Detailed information about this survey, including specific objectives, organizational framework, study design, sample distribution, and contents of the data collected, is available in previous studies [ 49 , 50 ].…”

Influencing Factors of Undermet Care Needs of the Chinese Disabled Oldest Old People When Their Children Are Both Caregivers and Older People: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The survey randomly selected approximately one-half of the counties in the 22 provinces as primary survey units. Additional details, such as the sampling design, sampling weight and assessment of data quality, could be found in previous studies [ 6 , 7 , 10 , 25 , 50 ].…”

“…Disabled oldest old people are defined as disabled older people aged 80 years and over in this study. Following previous studies [ 6 , 7 ], the ADL disabilities of the oldest old people were measured using the Katz scale [ 51 ], which gives a total score (ranging from 6 to 18) of six aspects in daily living disability, including bathing, dressing, bathroom use, indoor transferring, continence and feeding. Depending on the independence of older individuals in completing these activities, they were given a score of 1 (complete independence), 2 (partial independence) or 3 (complete dependence on others), with higher scores indicating a severe daily living disability.…”

“…China is an unhealthy aging society, and its disabled older population is developing rapidly [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. According to the Fourth Sampling Survey on the Living Conditions of Urban and Rural Older People in China, the number of partially disabled and completely disabled older people has reached 40.63 million [ 8 ].…”