Biological Risks among the Middle-Aged and Elderly in China: Gender, Education, and Urban-Rural Differences

Yuan Zhang, University of Southern California
Eileen Crimmins, University of Southern California

China is facing particular challenges because of its rapid aging and dramatic transformations in economic, social and cultural conditions over a short time. The prevalence of chronic health conditions has increased. However, there is little research on the demographic and social patterning of health in China using biological measures. This paper examines biological risk profiles for a representative sample of middle-aged and older Chinese with an emphasis on gender, education and urban-rural differences. We found little significant difference by gender and educational differences in biological risk, except that having higher education is associated with lower cardiovascular risk. Urban-rural differences are present for total number biological risks, metabolic and inflammatory risk. Compared to the rural population, the urban population and floating population are more likely to have greater total biological risk and higher metabolic risk. The floating population has the highest total risk overall and higher inflammatory risk than rural population.