To explore the association between the personal social capital and loneliness among the widowed older adults in China. Data from 1497 widowed older adults were extracted from China’s Health-Related Quality of Life Survey for Older Adults 2018. The Chinese version of the Personal Social Capital Scale (PSCS-16) was used to evaluate the participants’ status of bonding and bridging social capital (BOC and BRC). Loneliness was assessed by the short-form UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-8). Multiple linear regression models were established to examine the relationship between social capital and loneliness. The BOC and BRC of rural widowed older people were significantly lower than those of widowed older people in urban areas, while loneliness of rural widowed older people was higher than that of widowed older people in urban areas. The result of the final model showed that loneliness of rural participants was significantly associated with both BOC (B = 0.141, p = 0.001) and BRC (B = −0.116, p = 0.003). The loneliness of the urban widowed sample had no association with both BOC and BRC (p > 0.05). These findings suggested that more social support and compassionate care should be provided to enrich the personal social capital and thus to reduce loneliness of widowed older adults, especially those in rural areas.

This study examined the cross-sectional association among a number of daily health-related behavioral risk factors and sleep among Chinese elderly. A sample of 4993 adults, aged 60 years and older, from the China’s Health-Related Quality of Life Survey for Older Adults 2018 was included in this study. Five daily health-related behaviors, which included smoking, drinking, unhealthy eating habits, insufficient leisure activities, and physical inactivity were measured. Sleep disturbances and sleep quality were used to represent the respondents’ sleep status. Multiple logistic regression models and multiple linear regression models were established. The odds ratios (ORs) of sleep disturbances for those with one to five health-related risk behaviors were 1.41 (95% CI = 1.11 to 1.78), 2.09 (95% CI = 1.66 to 2.63), 2.54 (95% CI = 1.99 to 3.25), 2.12 (95% CI = 1.60 to 2.80), and 2.49 (95% CI = 1.70 to 3.65), respectively. Individuals with one health-related risk behavior (B = 0.14, 95% CI = −0.23 to −0.06), two health-related risk behaviors (B = 0.21, 95% CI = −0.30 to −0.13), three health-related risk behaviors (B = 0.46, 95% CI = −0.55 to −0.37), four health-related risk behaviors (B = 0.50, 95% CI = −0.62 to −0.39), and five health-related risk behaviors (B = 0.83, 95% CI = −1.00 to −0.66) showed lower scores of self-perceived sleep quality. Having multiple health-risk behaviors was positively correlated with a higher risk of sleep disturbances among Chinese elderly. Moreover, elderly individuals with multiple health-related risk behaviors were significantly associated with poorer sleep quality.

Studies on psychological problems among the elderly were mainly conducted in developed countries, which may not fit China under the context of the dramatic changes of social environment. This study aims to assess the status and social-demographic determinants of the mental health among the Chinese elderly. The Chinese version of the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) was used to measure participants’ mental health. A logistic model was established to identify the main socio-demographic factors associated with the overall detection rate of SCL-90-R. The overall positive detection rate of SCL-90-R was 23.6%, and the four symptoms with the highest positive detection rate were somatization (39.5%), obsessive-compulsive disorder (28.1%), other poor mental health symptoms (mainly sleep and diet problems) (25.7%), and depression (25.1%). The results showed those aged 75–79 (OR = 0.640, 95% CI 0.452 to 0.905) and 80 or above (OR = 0.430, 95% CI 0.302 to 0.613), those received 0 (OR = 0.224, 95% CI 0.162 to 0.310) or 1–5 years of education (OR = 0.591, 95% CI 0.449 to 0.776), those were living with spouse only (OR = 0.817, 95% CI 0.563 to 0.997) and with multiple generations (OR = 0.689, 95% CI 0.472 to 0.950), those holding a non-agricultural household registration (OR = 0.727, 95% CI 0.537 to 0.984), and those with an better higher household income were less likely to be positive in overall mental health symptoms. Mental health was shown to be better among those with more advanced ages (≥75), lower levels of schooling (≤5), normal body mass index, higher household incomes, and those who are married and live with their spouse or multiple generations, and those who came from city and currently live in the county.

China has the largest population of older adults, most of whom suffer from one or more noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The harm of the number of NCDs on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of older adults should be taken seriously. A sample of 5166 adults, aged 60 years and older, was included in this study. The Chinese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Old (WHOQOL-OLD) instrument was used to assess the HRQOL. Multiple linear regression models were established to determine the relationship between the number of NCDs and the total score and scores of each dimension of the WHOQOL-OLD scale. After adjusting for confounding factors, suffering from one NCD (B = −0.87, 95% CI = −1.67 to −0.08, p < 0.05), two NCDs (B = −2.89, 95% CI = −3.87 to −1.90, p < 0.001), and three or more NCDs (B = −4.20, 95% CI = −5.36 to −3.05, p < 0.001), all had negative impacts on the HRQOL of older adults. NCDs had significant negative impacts on the HRQOL of older adults, and as the number of NCDs increased, the HRQOL of older adults deteriorated. Therefore, we should pay attention to the prevention and management of NCDs of older adults to prevent the occurrence of multiple NCDs.

Partial or total non-adherence has been recognized as major issues in the long-term management of hypertension. This study aims to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of compliance behaviors among Chinese middle-aged and older hypertensive patients. A sample of 6308 hypertensive patients aged ≥45 years was obtained from the 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data. Two compliance behaviors were involved including medication and blood pressure monitoring. Stratified binary logistic regression analysis was employed to examine the associated factors. 77.2% of the participants reported medication compliance, and 40.7% complied with blood pressure monitoring. Better medication compliance associated with older age, overweight or obesity, one or ≥3 complications, no drinking, living in urban areas, and health education. Better blood pressure monitoring compliance associated with older age, overweight or obesity, ≥3 complications, normal activities of daily living (ADL), no smoking, sleep duration of 6–8 h, better cognitive function, living in urban areas, education level of middle school or above, and health education. Chinese middle-aged and older hypertensive patients experienced unoptimistic compliance behaviors, especially for blood pressure monitoring. Special attention and targeted interventions are urgent for the high-risk population of poor compliance behaviors, such as rural individuals, low educational population, and younger hypertensive patients.

Objective to identify multimorbidity patterns among middle-aged and older adults in China and examine how these patterns are associated with incident disability and recovery of independence. Methods data were from The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. We included 14,613 persons aged ≥45 years. Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to identify multimorbidity patterns with clinical meaningfulness. Multinomial logistic models were used to determine the adjusted association between multimorbidity patterns and incident disability and recovery of independence. Results we identified four multimorbidity patterns: ‘low morbidity’ (67.91% of the sample), ‘pulmonary–digestive–rheumatic’ (17.28%), ‘cardiovascular–metabolic–neuro’ (10.77%) and ‘high morbidity’ (4.04%). Compared to the ‘low morbidity’ group, ‘high morbidity’ (OR = 2.63, 95% CI = 1.97–3.51), ‘pulmonary–digestive–rheumatic’ (OR = 1.89, 95% CI = 1.63–2.21) and ‘cardiovascular–metabolic–neuro’ pattern (OR = 1.61, 95% CI = 1.31–1.97) had higher odds of incident disability in adjusted multinomial logistic models. The ‘cardiovascular–metabolic–neuro’ (OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.44–0.81), ‘high morbidity’ (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.47–0.98) and ‘pulmonary–digestive–rheumatic’ group (OR = 0.75, 95% CI = 0.60–0.95) had lower odds of recovery from disability than the ‘low morbidity’ group. Among people without disability, the ‘cardiovascular–endocrine–neuro’ pattern was associated with the highest 2-year mortality (OR = 2.42, 95% CI = 1.56–3.72). Conclusions multimorbidity is complex and heterogeneous, but our study demonstrates that clinically meaningful patterns can be obtained using LCA. We highlight four multimorbidity patterns with differential effects on incident disability and recovery from disability. These studies suggest that targeted prevention and treatment approaches are needed for people with multimorbidity.

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of social support factors with leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) of older people in Fuwen village. A cross-sectional study included 523 randomly selected elderly people (60+ years) whose LTPA levels were determined using the shortened version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-S). A modified version of the Physical Activity Social Support Scale (PASSS) was operated to gather perceived scores of the social support factors. A multivariate linear regression was performed to locate associations of perceived scores of social supports with leisure-time walking (LTW) and moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The results indicated that social support from family was positively and significantly related to LTW and MVPA in both models. The community factor was positively and significantly correlated with MVPA in both models. The sport club factor was related to LTW and MVPA to some extent. The results suggest that social support from family is the most important motivator for older people’s LTW and MVPA in the village of Fuwen. Social support from the community is the motivator for older people’s MVPA. The sport club factor has some effects on older people’s LTW and MVPA as well. More future studies are needed to extend the database of the relationship between social support and rural older people’s physical activity.

Purpose: The association between body mass index (BMI) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has not been verified neither in China nor in any other Asian country. This study aimed to examine the association between BMI and HRQOL in the Chinese older adults population. Methods: A total of 5018 older adults from the China's Health-Related Quality of Life Survey for Older Adults 2018 was included in this study. The HRQOL was measured by the Chinese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument-Older Adults Module (WHOQOL-OLD). Multiple linear regression analysis was used to explore the associations between BMI and HRQOL among the older adults in rural, urban, and total samples. Results: After adjusting all the confounders, compared with normal weight group, underweight was negatively correlated with the total scores of HRQOL among the older adults in rural (B= −2.310, p < 0.01), urban (B= −1.019, p < 0.001), and total samples (B= −2.351, p < 0.001), whereas overweight was positively associated with the total scores of HRQOL among the older adults in rural samples (B= 0.888, p < 0.05). The results showed that obesity was not associated with the total scores of HRQOL among the older adults in rural (B= −1.214, p > 0.05), urban (B= −0.074, p > 0.05), and total samples (B= −1.461, p > 0.05). Conclusion: This study suggests that obese Chinese older adults did not show a better quality of life than those of normal weight. But this result does not deny the "jolly fat" hypothesis entirely, as the overweight older adults from rural areas showed better HRQOL. Moreover, underweight older people show a poorer HRQOL. The relationship between BMI and HRQOL in the older adults needs to be differentiated according to different characteristics of the population.