Education as a Moderator in the Effect of Successful Aging on Mortality Risk in Elderly Chinese: A National Longitudinal Study (2011-2016)

Abstract

BackgroundSome studies have found that successful aging and its components were significantly associated with older adults’ health, their achievement has a positive effect on reducing mortality rates. However, there is little evidence to discuss whether education could modify the effect of successful aging on morality risk. Numerous literatures from worldwide were cross-sectional and previous studies on the association between successful aging and mortality in China were quite few. We aim to evaluate the effect of successful aging and each of its components on mortality risk of older in China, further discussed whether education was a moderator in this effect and investigated differences in results among males and females.MethodsData was derived from CHARLS (China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study), which is a nationally representative follow-up survey. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the education's moderate effect on the relationship between successful aging and mortality.ResultsIn total, 4824 residents aged 60 years and above were recorded. 15.18% (n=367) for males and 15.74% (n=379) for females were defined as successful aging and the mortality were 2.61% (n=63) for males and 3.45% (n=83) for females during the survey. It is the first longitudinal study using national cohort data to research the educational effects on the association between mortality and successful aging, our study showed that the effect only existed in females aged 65-74 years old group with lower education.ConclusionsEducation has the significant effect on the relationship between successful aging and mortality. Physical health is significantly associated with the achieving of successful aging among young older. More measures should be paid on improving mental health among the young female older with lower education to achieve successful aging and to against mortality and live longevity.