Changes of time and space differences in health status and their influencing factors among the elderly in China

Objective To examine spatial and temporal variations in health disparities among Chines elderly and their influencing factors and to provide references for improving the health of the elderly.Methods We extracted health-related data of 45 244 elderly involved in 3 waves of cross-sectional survey in 2002,2005 and 2008 for the ‘Follow-up Study on Elderly Longevity in China’ conducted by Peking University and China Aging Research Center in 22 provinces at north,northeast,east coast,and midwest region of China.We adopted ArcGIS10 in spatio-temporal change analysis on health of the elderly and multiple linear model in analysis on influence factors of the changes.Results Self-rated health was poor among the elderly in underdeveloped areas of China in 2002-2008.The self-rated health status of the elderly in middle east was better than those in the western region,with obvious internal differences.The analyses on time variable coefficient-related fixed effects revealed that the descent rate of self-rated health for the elderly aged 65-80 years was 0.09 higher than those over 80 years old and the rate of the elderly men was 0.03 higher than the older women in China.The descent rate of self-rated health for the Han elderly was 0.04 higher than that of the minority elderly.The elderly with non-agricultural occupation before the age of 60 years had a 0.03 increase in self-rated health ascent rate.Whether having adequate living expenses and whether having physical exercise have negative prediction function on the change trend of self-rated health,whereas,being capable of taking care of oneself and not sufferings from chronic disease have positive prediction function for self-rated health.The elderly having serious disease had a 0.07 increase in self-rated health ascent rate.Conclusion There is a great regional disparity in self-rated health among Chinese elderly and the disparity changes with time.The main influence factors for self-rated health among Chinese elderly include age,gender,nationality,occupation before the age of 60 years,living expense,physical exercise,capability of taking care of oneself,and suffering from chronic disease.