Childhood Health Status and Adulthood Cardiovascular Disease Morbidity in Rural China: Are They Related?
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are among the top health problems of the Chinese population. Although mounting evidence suggests that early childhood health status has an enduring effect on late life chronic morbidity, no study so far has analyzed the issue in China. Using nationally representative data from the 2013 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), a Probit model and Two-Stage Residual Inclusion estimation estimator were applied to analyze the relationship between childhood health status and adulthood cardiovascular disease in rural China. Good childhood health was associated with reduced risk of adult CVDs. Given the long-term effects of childhood health on adulthood health later on, health policy and programs to improve the health status and well-being of Chinese populations over the entire life cycle, especially in persons' early life, are expected to be effective and successful.
School of Business, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin 124221, China. wangqing1984@126.com.
Qing
Q
Wang
Department of Health Care Administration and Policy, School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV 89103, USA. jay.shen@unlv.edu.
Jay J
JJ
Shen
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D002648:Child; D000067576:Child Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000502:physiology*; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
China; adult; cardiovascular disease; childhood health status