Prevalence and risk factors of disability in Chinese residents

Objective To examine the prevalence and the risk factors of disability in Chinese residents and to provide reference to reduce the prevalence of disability.Methods Based on the investigation of the Second National Sample Survey on Disability in 2006,the prevalence rates of disability of different populations were calculated and the effects of social,economic,demographic,and enviromental factors on the prevalence rates were analyzed.Results The prevalence rate of disability in Chinese residents was 6.39% based on the database.Prevalence rates of disability in the residents with different age,sex,place of residence,educational level,marital status,employment status,occupation,per capita household income,and provincial gross domestic product(GDP) per capita were different (P< 0.001 for all).Results of binary logistic regression show ed that age (odds ratioOR=1.043),female (OR=0.586),living in urban area (OR=0.899),illiterate (OR=4.585),primary school (OR=2.743),secondary school (OR=1.416),the married (OR=0.394),divorced (OR=1.139),widowed(OR=0.412),employed(OR=0.304),occupation type I(OR=0.707),occupation type Ⅱ (OR=1.160),occupation type Ⅲ(OR=0.800),occupation type V(OR=1.092),occupation type Ⅶ (OR=0.773),occupation type Ⅷ(OR=0.809),occupation type Ⅸ(OR=0.562),occupation type X(OR=0.522),and household income per capita(OR=1.000) were the main risk factors of disability for Chinese residents.And the changes of -2 log likelihood caused by each factors ranked as age,gender,marriage status,illiteracy,household income per capita,widowed,unemployed,primary school,occupation type Ⅸ,secondary school,occupation type X,place of residence,occupation type Ⅶ,Ⅷ,Ⅱ,Ⅰ,divorced,and occupation type Ⅴ and Ⅲ.Conclusion The study results showed that population aging was the most important risk factor for disability and general improvement of education could reduce the risk of disability.Differences betw een occupational categories in disability risk suggest the importance and priorities of injury prevention and micro-macro economic environment has an indirect impact on the risk of disability.