Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, China Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Feb 19;16(4):601. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16040601.
Empirical studies of the socio-economic determinants of the wellbeing of the oldest-old in China including the role of geography and spatial factors are rare. This paper applies binary logistic regression analysis to data on the oldest-old aged 80 years old and higher from the 2011 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study (CLHLS). Socioeconomic determinants of the self-reported quality of life (QoL) and self-reported health (SRH) of the oldest-old population are explored, with special attention paid to the role of residence and region. The results indicate that, after controlling for individual demographic and health behavior variables, both economic status and social welfare have a significant effect on self-reported QoL and SRH. There are also significant differences in self-reported QoL among cities, towns and rural areas, with the oldest-old respondents living in Central rural, Western town and Western rural areas being significantly less likely to report good QoL, compared to the oldest-old living in Eastern cities. Significant differences in SRH exist among Eastern China, Western China and Northeastern China, with the oldest-old from Western towns being significantly less likely to report good health, and the oldest-old from Northeastern cities being significantly more likely to report good health than those from Eastern cities. The results of this study indicate that socioeconomic factors that explain self-reported QoL and SRH of the older population are in general factors that explain the self-reported QoL and SRH of the oldest-old cohorts. The interaction effect of residence and region matters more than each of the individual factors, in providing us with more detailed information on the role of geography in explaining QoL and health of the oldest-old. At a time when the oldest-old cohorts in China are at the beginning of their projected growth, these findings are vital for providing policy makers with more information on the urgency of making more geographically targeted policy to improve more effectively the self-reported QoL and SRH of the oldest-old population.
在中国，关于影响高龄老人幸福感的社会经济决定因素的实证研究（包括地理和空间因素的作用）很少。本研究应用二元逻辑回归分析方法，对 2011 年中国老年健康长寿跟踪调查（CLHLS）中 80 岁及以上的高龄老人数据进行了分析。本文探讨了影响高龄老人自评生活质量（QoL）和自评健康（SRH）的社会经济决定因素，特别关注居住地点和地区的作用。结果表明，在控制了个体人口统计学和健康行为变量后，经济状况和社会福利对自评 QoL 和 SRH 有显著影响。城市、城镇和农村地区的自评 QoL 也存在显著差异，与居住在东部城市的高龄老人相比，居住在中部农村、西部城镇和西部农村的高龄老人报告良好 QoL 的可能性显著降低。东部、西部和东北地区的 SRH 存在显著差异，与居住在东部城市的高龄老人相比，居住在西部城镇的高龄老人报告健康状况不佳的可能性显著降低，而居住在东北地区城市的高龄老人报告健康状况良好的可能性显著增加。本研究结果表明，解释老年人口自评 QoL 和 SRH 的社会经济因素总体上也是解释高龄老人队列自评 QoL 和 SRH 的因素。居住地点和地区的交互作用比单个因素更重要，为我们提供了更多关于地理在解释高龄老人幸福感和健康方面作用的详细信息。在中国，高龄老人队列正处于预期增长的初期，这些发现对于为政策制定者提供更多信息，说明制定更具针对性的地理政策以更有效地提高高龄老人群体的自评 QoL 和 SRH 的紧迫性至关重要。
