3-D health trajectories and related childhood predictors among older adults in China

Sci Rep. 2021 May 10;11(1):9874. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-89354-6.

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the multi-trajectories of 3-D health of older adults in China and to explore whether the childhood predictors are associated with 3-D health trajectory. Data came from five waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS, 2011 to 2018). A multi-trajectory modeling approach was carried out to jointly estimate the trajectories of 3-D health. A multinomial regression model was used to investigate the relationships between childhood predictors and the joint trajectories. We identified three typical joint 3-D health trajectories. Female, childhood health, maternal and paternal educations, childhood friendships, family and neighborhood predictors could all affect 3-D health trajectories of older adults directly or indirectly through adult variables. The 3-D health trajectories showed increasing trends, thus the government should perform more interventions toward the childhood predictors for better health of older adults.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aging / physiology*
  • Child
  • China / epidemiology
  • Chronic Disease / epidemiology*
  • Depression / epidemiology*
  • Disability Evaluation
  • Female
  • Forecasting / methods
  • Health Status*
  • Humans
  • Likelihood Functions
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Models, Biological*
  • Protective Factors
  • Risk Assessment / methods
  • Risk Factors