Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T21:43:58.013Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relationships between age and gender differentials in health among older people in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2009

DEWEN WANG ,
JIANMIN ZHENG ,
MICHIKO KUROSAWA  and
YUTAKA INABA
DEWEN WANG*
Affiliation:
Institute of Population Research, Xiamen University, China. Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Juntendo University, Japan.
JIANMIN ZHENG
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, China.
MICHIKO KUROSAWA
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Juntendo University, Japan.
YUTAKA INABA
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Juntendo University, Japan.
*
Address for correspondence: Dewen Wang, School of Public Affairs, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China361005. E-mails: [email protected] or [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to specify the relationships between age and gender differentials in health among older people in China. The data were drawn from the 2002 Chinese Longitudinal Health Longevity Study (CLHLS), which included 15,789 respondents aged 65 or more years. The health indicators included the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental ADL scores, cognitive ability (using the Mini Mental State Examination), visual function, hearing or auditory function, number of natural teeth, self-reported health, and self-reported quality of life. The statistical significance of the age relationships was examined using Mann-Whitney U tests and Spearman's rank correlation coefficients. The principal results were that above 65 years of age, gender differentials were observed in most of the health indicators at most ages, although self-rated quality of life was an exception. For most of the objective (observer-rated) health indicators, the gender differentials increased with greater age, but that for the number of natural teeth decreased with age. Gender differentials in the two subjective health measures had no significant relationship with age. It is concluded that older Chinese women have poorer health than men and are in many ways disadvantaged, and that the relative disadvantage increases with age. Chinese women tend to live longer and suffer ill-health more than men.

Keywords

older peopleChinahealth indicatorage relationshipsgender differentialshealth differentials
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 29 , Issue 7 , October 2009 , pp. 1141 - 1154
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anson, O. and Sun, S. F. 2002. Gender and health in rural China: evidence from Hebei province. Social Science and Medicine, 55, 6, 1039–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Antunes, B. C. M., Junqueira, S. R., Frazao, P., Bispo, C. M., Pegoretti, T. and Narvai, P. C. 2003. City-level gender differentials in the prevalence of dental caries and restorative dental treatment. Health and Place, 9, 3, 231–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brennan-Calanan, R. M., Genco, R. J., Wilding, G. E., Hovey, K. M., Trevisan, M. and Wactawski-Wende, J. 2008. Osteoporosis and oral infection: independent risk factors for oral bone loss. Journal of Dental Research, 87, 4, 323–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS)-2002. Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey 2002. Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Website at http://www.geri.duke.edu/china_study [Accessed 20 January 2009].Google Scholar
Chou, K. L. and Chi, I. 2004. Combined effect of vision and hearing impairment on depression in elderly Chinese. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 19, 9, 825–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crimmins, E. M., Hayward, M. D. and Saito, Y. 1994. Changing mortality and morbidity rates and the health status and life expectancy of the older population. Demography, 31, 1, 159–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deb, S. and Braganza, J. 1999. Comparison of rating scales for the diagnosis of dementia in adults with Down's syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 43, 5, 400–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuse, K. and Crenshaw, E. M. 2006. Gender imbalance in infant mortality: a cross-national study of social structure and female infanticide. Social Science and Medicine, 62, 2, 360–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guralnik, J. M., LaCroix, A. Z., Branch, L. G., Kasl, S. and Wallace, R. B. 1991. Morbidity and disability in older persons in the years prior to death. American Journal of Public Health, 81, 4, 443–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Idler, E. and Benyamini, Y. 1997. Self-rated health and mortality: a review of twenty-seven community studies. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 38, 1, 21–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jordan, V. C., Gapstur, S. and Morrow, M. 2001. Selective estrogen receptor modulation and reduction in risk of breast cancer, osteoporosis, and coronary health disease. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 93, 19, 1449–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, S., Ford, A. B., Moskowitz, R. W., Jackson, B. A. and Jaffe, M. W. 1963. Studies of illness in the aged the index of ADL, a standardized measure of biological and psychosocial function. Journal of the American Medical Association, 185, September 21, 914–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kunter, M. H., Nachtsheim, C. J. and Netter, J. 2004. Applied Linear Regression Models. Fourth edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York, 87–8.Google Scholar
Lee, Y. J. and Xiao, Z. Y. 1998. Children's support for elderly parents in urban and rural China: results from a national survey. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 13, 1, 39–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, W. L. 1998. Aging and welfare policies in China. Sociological Focus, 31, 1, 31–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nusselder, J. W. and Loomale, W. N. C. 2004. Decomposition of differences in health expectancy by cause. Demography, 41, 2, 315–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Osterweil, D., Mulford, P., Syndulko, K. and Martin, M. 1994. Cognitive function in old and very old residents of a residential facility: relationship to age, education, and dementia. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 42, 7, 766–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rahtz, R. D. and Sirgy, M. J. 2000. Marketing of health care within a community: a quality-of-life/needs assessment model and method. Journal of Business Research, 48, 2, 165–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silk, H., Douglass, A. B., Douglass, J. M. and Silk, L. 2008. Oral health during pregnancy. American Family Physician, 77, 8, 1139–44.Google ScholarPubMed
Sundquist, J. and Johansson, S. E. 1997. Self-reported health and low educational level predictors for mortality: a population-based follow-up study of 39,156 people in Sweden. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 51, 1, 35–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorslund, M. and Lunderg, O. 1994. Health and inequalities among the oldest-old. Journal of Aging and Health, 6, 1, 51–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waldron, I. 1983. Sex differences in human mortality: the role of genetic factors. Social Science and Medicine, 17, 6, 321–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, D. W. and Ye, W. Z. 2006. Gender differences in health among the Chinese elderly and contributing factors. Collection of Women's Studies, 73, 4, 21–6. (In Chinese).Google Scholar
Yu, M. Y. and Sarri, R. 1997. Female's health status and gender inequality in China. Social Science and Medicine, 45, 12, 1885–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zeng, Y., Liu, Y. Z. and George, L. K. 2003. Gender differentials of the oldest old in China. Research on Aging, 25, 1, 65–80.Google Scholar
Zeng, Y. and George, L. K. 2000. Family dynamics of 63 million (in 1990) to more than 330 million (in 2050) elders in China. Demographic Research, 2, 5. Electronic journal available online at www.demographic-research.org/Vol2/5 [Accessed 20 January 2009].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeng, Y. and James, W. V. 2002. Functional capacity and self-evaluation of health and life of oldest old in China. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 4, 733–48.Google Scholar
Zhang, Z. M. 2006. Gender differentials in cognitive impairment and decline of the oldest old in China. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 61B, 2, S107–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar