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Association between childhood conditions and arthritis among middle-aged and older adults in China: the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2020

Nan Lu Open the ORCID record for Nan Lu [Opens in a new window] ,
Bei Wu ,
Nan Jiang  and
Tingyue Dong
Nan Lu
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work and Social Policy, School of Sociology and Population Studies, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
Bei Wu*
Affiliation:
Rory Meyers College of Nursing and NYU Aging Incubator, New York University, New York, USA
Nan Jiang
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Tingyue Dong
Affiliation:
Institute of Gerontology, School of Sociology and Population Studies, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
*
*Corresponding author. Email: bei.wu@nyu.edu
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Abstract

This study examined the association between childhood conditions and arthritis among middle-aged and older adults in China. The data were derived from the 2015 wave and the life-history module of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with respondents age 45 and over across China. Multiple imputation was used to handle the missing data, generating a final analytic sample of 19,800. Doctor-diagnosed arthritis was the main outcome variable. Random-effects logistic regression models were used to test the proposed models. Approximately 8 per cent of the respondents had better family financial status in childhood than their neighbours. Close to 8 per cent had been hospitalised or encountered similar conditions (e.g. confined to bed or home) for at least one month in childhood. Around one-third reported better subjective health in childhood than their peers. The majority of the respondents (80%) reported that they had stable health resources, and that their mothers were illiterate during their childhood. Childhood family financial status, subjective health, mother's education, access to health care and medical catastrophic events were found to be significant factors associated with arthritis in later life, after controlling for adulthood and older-age conditions (family financial status: odds ratio (OR) = 0.885, 95 per cent confidence interval (95% CI) = 0.848–0.924; subjective health: OR = 0.924, 95% CI = 0.889–0.960; mother's education: OR = 0.863, 95% CI = 0.750–0.992; access to health care: OR = 0.729, 95% CI = 0.552–0.964; medical catastrophic events: OR = 1.266, 95% CI = 1.108–1.446). The study results highlight an important role that childhood conditions play in affecting the onset of arthritis in late life in China. Health-care providers may consider childhood conditions as a valuable screening criterion to identify risk populations, which could be used to guide health promotion and prevention programmes, and promote healthy ageing.

Keywords

childhood conditionsarthritislife courseChina Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS)
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 41 , Issue 11 , November 2021 , pp. 2484 - 2501
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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