{"title":"Age-friendly community environments and the age trajectories of long-term care dependency among Chinese older adults.","authors":"Peng Nie, Qiaoge Li","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117614","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the context of rapid global aging, the importance of age-friendly community environments for promoting healthy aging and \"aging in place\" continues to increase. Using data from the 2011-2020 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this study investigated the impact of an age-friendly community environment on the age trajectories of late-life long-term care (LTC) dependency among older Chinese adults aged 60+ years. Age-friendly community environments were defined according to three levels (poor, moderate, or good) based on the World Health Organization's age-friendly city and community framework, and LTC dependency was classified as level 1 (high), level 2 (medium), or level 3 (low) according to activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living scores. We classified participants into two age trajectory groups according to their level of LTC dependency: early-onset and late-onset groups. We found that an age-friendly community environment, especially a good housing environment, was consistently associated with the probability of having late-onset LTC dependency at any level. Having moderate and good social and employment environments reduced the likelihood of having early-onset level 2 and level 3 LTC dependency. Our mechanism analysis also revealed that age-friendly community environments affect LTC dependency through social participation. Our results may help elucidate the importance of promoting age-friendly community environments to maintain late-life functional ability and support healthy aging.</p>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"365 ","pages":"117614"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Social Science & Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117614","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In the context of rapid global aging, the importance of age-friendly community environments for promoting healthy aging and "aging in place" continues to increase. Using data from the 2011-2020 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this study investigated the impact of an age-friendly community environment on the age trajectories of late-life long-term care (LTC) dependency among older Chinese adults aged 60+ years. Age-friendly community environments were defined according to three levels (poor, moderate, or good) based on the World Health Organization's age-friendly city and community framework, and LTC dependency was classified as level 1 (high), level 2 (medium), or level 3 (low) according to activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living scores. We classified participants into two age trajectory groups according to their level of LTC dependency: early-onset and late-onset groups. We found that an age-friendly community environment, especially a good housing environment, was consistently associated with the probability of having late-onset LTC dependency at any level. Having moderate and good social and employment environments reduced the likelihood of having early-onset level 2 and level 3 LTC dependency. Our mechanism analysis also revealed that age-friendly community environments affect LTC dependency through social participation. Our results may help elucidate the importance of promoting age-friendly community environments to maintain late-life functional ability and support healthy aging.
期刊介绍:
Social Science & Medicine provides an international and interdisciplinary forum for the dissemination of social science research on health. We publish original research articles (both empirical and theoretical), reviews, position papers and commentaries on health issues, to inform current research, policy and practice in all areas of common interest to social scientists, health practitioners, and policy makers. The journal publishes material relevant to any aspect of health from a wide range of social science disciplines (anthropology, economics, epidemiology, geography, policy, psychology, and sociology), and material relevant to the social sciences from any of the professions concerned with physical and mental health, health care, clinical practice, and health policy and organization. We encourage material which is of general interest to an international readership.