The association of childhood socioeconomic conditions with healthy longevity at the oldest-old ages in China

Abstract

Based on unique data from the largest-ever sample of the Chinese oldest-old aged 80 and older, our multivariate logistic regression analyses show that either receiving adequate medical service during sickness in childhood or never/rarely suffering from serious illness during childhood significantly reduces the risk of being ADL (activities of daily living) impaired, being cognitively impaired, and self-reporting poor health by 18%–33% at the oldest-old ages. Estimates of effects for five other indicators of childhood conditions are similarly positive but mostly not statistically significant. Multivariate survival analysis shows that better childhood socioeconomic conditions in general tend to reduce the four-year period mortality risk among the oldest-old. But after additional controls for 14 covariates are put into the model, the effects are not statistically significant, thus suggesting that most of the effects of childhood conditions on oldest-old mortality are indirect—at least to the point of affecting current health status at the oldest-old ages, which itself is strongly associated with mortality. While acknowledging limitations of the present analyses due to a lack of information on childhood illness, the oldest-olds’ recollection errors, and other data problems, we conclude, based on this and other studies, that policies that enhance childhood health care and children’s socioeconomic wellbeing can have large and long-lasting benefits up to the oldest-old ages.

Sociodemographic and Health Correlates of Sleep Quality and Duration among Very Old Chinese

“…Another poslimited educational facilities. Although some young elders attended school during adulthood in the national illiteracy eradication movement, 55 prevalence of literacy is much lower among women (34%) than among men (75%). Further, a majority of Chinese elders are illiterate, and some literate elders might have been politically persecuted during the Cultural Revolution.…”

Living Arrangement Concordance and its Association with Self-Rated Health Among Institutionalized and Community-Residing Older Adults in China

“…Previous studies in western countries have found that education has a strong effect on seniors' health, both influencing the individual's ability to access health care and as a proxy for SES status over the life course (Dalstra et al 2006;Grundy and Holt 2001). Education may play a different role for Chinese elderly, many of whom have had limited access to education over their life course (Zeng et al 2007). For them, the influence of family care on SRH may be more meaningful than individual education.…”

Studying Disability Trends in Aging Populations

“…Zeng et al (2007) found that receiving adequate medical services in childhood could reduce the risk of being ADL disabled among Chinese oldest-old men and women by 18 % and 22 %, respectively. Luo and Waite (2005) similarly found that U.S. adults aged 50 and older who had relatively disadvantaged childhoods or adulthood socioeconomic conditions had greater functional limitations than their counterparts who grew up in more well-off families; however, the negative impact of poor childhood conditions can be ameliorated by better SES in adulthood.…”

“…Research on associations between SES at different life stages and disability at late ages has flourished in last two decades Most studies have demonstrated that a strong association between early life or mid-life stage and physical functioning at later ages in various countries with different levels of income (Freedman et al 2013;McEniry 2013;Schoeni et al 2008;Wen and Gu 2011;Zeng et al 2007). Zeng et al (2007) found that receiving adequate medical services in childhood could reduce the risk of being ADL disabled among Chinese oldest-old men and women by 18 % and 22 %, respectively.…”