Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) aims to collect a high quality nationally representative sample of Chinese residents ages 45 and older to serve the needs of scientific research on the elderly.
Research Interests:
The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) aims to collect a high quality nationally representative sample of Chinese residents ages 45 and older to serve the needs of scientific research on the elderly.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Tapping into the older workforce is a potential economic solution to population aging, but its feasibility depends on the health capacity to work among older people. Existing estimations in OECD countries involve establishing the... more
Tapping into the older workforce is a potential economic solution to population aging, but its feasibility depends on the health capacity to work among older people. Existing estimations in OECD countries involve establishing the relationship between work and health on a younger cohort, extrapolating the relationship to older individuals, and deriving the excess health capacity as the difference between predicted and actual employment rates. However, benchmarking on the younger cohort is sub-optimal because the observable retirement-health relationship changes with age. The dual nature of the Chinese social security system provides us with a relatively neat benchmark, allowing us to estimate the excess health capacity among urban workers benchmarking on rural residents in the same age range. Using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this choice, combined with other fine-tuning, yields significantly lower but still substantial excess capacity among older urban workers than benchmarking against younger cohorts. Altogether, among urban Chinese aged 45–69, 31.2 million extra workers can potentially be added to the workforce.
Research Interests: Business, Economics, China, Social Security, Benchmarking, and 3 moreMedicine, Workforce, and Cohort
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Blood biomarkers provide critical information about the health of older populations, especially in large developing countries where self-reports of health are often inaccurate due to lack of access to health care. However, it is very... more
Blood biomarkers provide critical information about the health of older populations, especially in large developing countries where self-reports of health are often inaccurate due to lack of access to health care. However, it is very difficult to collect blood samples in representative population surveys in such countries. The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), a nationally representative study of middle-aged and older Chinese, represents one of the first efforts to include blood biomarkers in a nationally representative survey of China. In the 2015 wave of CHARLS, 13,013 respondents located in 150 counties around China donated whole blood, which was assayed on a range of indicators. Here we describe the process of the sample collection, transportation, storage, and analysis and present basic statistics.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
There has been a major spread of health insurance in both urban and especially rural areas of China in the past 8 years. In the CHARLS pilot data some 90% of our sample report having some type of insurance, with the New Cooperative... more
There has been a major spread of health insurance in both urban and especially rural areas of China in the past 8 years. In the CHARLS pilot data some 90% of our sample report having some type of insurance, with the New Cooperative Medical Scheme insurance being the most prevalent. Reported premiums actually paid are low in rural areas, averaging 20 Yuan per year per person, though higher in urban areas. As of 2008, in Zhejiang and Gansu, these schemes covered mainly inpatient care, and the reimbursement rates topped out at 64% for respondents in Zhejiang having an urban hukou. For those with rural hukou, reimbursement rates are lower, ranging from 23% to 35% in Zhejiang and Gansu. There is much variation across county-units. Reimbursement rates tended to be higher for higher total health care costs, but do not rise enough to be said to offer very complete coverage for catastrophic illnesses. Outpatient service is just beginning to be covered by insurance in Zhejiang province, especially in urban areas and among those holding urban hukou, but not much yet in Gansu province. Simple descriptive regressions show that respondents with lower incomes as measured by per capita expenditure (pce) have a lower chance of being insured, as do migrants, older women and widows. There is a lot of variation across communities in coverage, and reimbursement rates, as reported in earlier studies. For inpatient use, having higher pce matters positively for both men and women, and it is also positively correlated with utilization for outpatient services for women. Unobserved community effects also are strongly correlated with utilization. Finally, although we cannot call it a causal relationship, having health insurance is positively correlated with inpatient use for men.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Limited evidence is available regarding the long-term effects of fine particulate (PM2.5) air pollution on hypertension in developing countries. This study aimed to explore the associations of long-term exposure to PM2.5 with hypertension... more
Limited evidence is available regarding the long-term effects of fine particulate (PM2.5) air pollution on hypertension in developing countries. This study aimed to explore the associations of long-term exposure to PM2.5 with hypertension prevalence and blood pressure (BP) in China. We conducted a cross-sectional study based on a nationally representative survey (13,975 participants). We estimated the long-term average exposure to PM2.5 for all subjects during the study period (June 2011 to March 2012) by a satellite-based model with a spatial resolution of 10 × 10 km. We applied multivariable logistic regression models to evaluate the associations between PM2.5 and hypertension prevalence and linear regression models for the associations between PM2.5 and systolic BP and diastolic BP. We also explored potential effect modification by stratification analyses. There were 5715 cases of hypertension, accounting for 40.9% of the study population in this analysis. The annual mean exposure to PM2.5 for all participants was 72.8 μg/m3 on average. An interquartile range increase (IQR, 41.7 μg/m3) in PM2.5 was associated with higher prevalence of hypertension with an odds ratio of 1.11 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05, 1.17]. Systolic BP increased by 0.60 mmHg (95% CI: 0.05, 1.15) per an IQR increase in PM2.5. The effects of PM2.5 on hypertension prevalence were stronger among middle-aged, obese and urban participants. This national study indicated that long-term exposure to PM2.5 was associated with increased prevalence of hypertension and slightly higher systolic BP in China.
Research Interests: Environmental Health, Air pollution, China, Medicine, Multidisciplinary, and 12 moreEnvironmental Sciences, Humans, Hypertension, Blood Pressure, Airborne Particulates, Particulate Matter, Statistical models, Cross sectional Study, Cross Sectional Studies, Environmental Exposure, Air Pollutants, and Medical and Health Sciences
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In this paper, we build on the literature that examines associations between height and health outcomes of the elderly. We investigate the associations of height shrinkage at older ages with socioeconomic status, finding that height... more
In this paper, we build on the literature that examines associations between height and health outcomes of the elderly. We investigate the associations of height shrinkage at older ages with socioeconomic status, finding that height shrinkage for both men and women is negatively associated with better schooling, current urban residence, and household per capita expenditures. We then investigate the relationships between pre-shrinkage height, height shrinkage, and a rich set of health outcomes of older respondents, finding that height shrinkage is positively associated with poor health outcomes across a variety of outcomes, being especially strong for cognition outcomes. (JEL I12, J14, O15, P36)
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Background Association between blood pressure (BP) and kidney function among the middle and old aged general population without hypertension remains unclear. Methods Participants aged ≥ 45 years, with complete data in 2011 and 2015... more
Background Association between blood pressure (BP) and kidney function among the middle and old aged general population without hypertension remains unclear. Methods Participants aged ≥ 45 years, with complete data in 2011 and 2015 interviews of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study(CHARLS), and without pre-existing hypertension were included. Systolic BP (SBP) was categorized as low (< 120 mmHg), medium (120–129 mmHg), and high (120–139 mmHg). Diastolic BP (DBP) was categorized as low (< 60 mmHg), medium (60–74 mmHg), and high (75–89 mmHg). Pulse pressure (PP) was categorized as normal (< 60 mmHg) and high (≥ 60 mmHg). The outcome was defined as rapid decline of estimated glomerular filtration rate(eGFR, decline ≥ 4 ml/min/1.73 m2/year). BP combination was designed according to the category of SBP and PP. The association between BP components, types of BP combination, and the risk of rapid decline of eGFR was analyzed using multivariate logistic regression mod...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In the situation of rapid population aging, postponing retirement is a timely and effective measure in relieving pressure of old age support. However, many people think that postponing retirement will crowd out youth employment. Using... more
In the situation of rapid population aging, postponing retirement is a timely and effective measure in relieving pressure of old age support. However, many people think that postponing retirement will crowd out youth employment. Using data in China, this paper shows that this judgment cannot be supported by empirical evidence. Using data from 1990 census, 2000 census and 2005 1% population sample survey, this paper examines the impact of employment of older persons on employment of younger persons. Our OLS estimation results suggest that employment of younger persons is positively instead of negatively correlated with employment of older persons. We further dealt with the potential endogeneity of the OLS estimation by employing two-way fix-effects and TSLS estimation strategies. The results still suggest that increase of employment of older persons will promote rather than depress employment of younger persons. We also found a positive effect of employment of older persons on young ...