Effects of family multi-generational relationship on multimorbidity and healthy life expectancy for second generations: insight from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study

BMC Geriatrics

Research

Si-Rui Zhong¹  Xiao Lin¹  Yu-Xiao Zhou¹  Jun-Yan Xi¹  Yuan-Tao Hao² 

[1] Department of Medical Statistics, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-Sen University, 74Th Zhongshan 2Nd Rd, Yuexiu District, 510080, Guangzhou, China;Department of Medical Statistics, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-Sen University, 74Th Zhongshan 2Nd Rd, Yuexiu District, 510080, Guangzhou, China;Peking University Center for Public Health and Epidemic Preparedness & Response, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, 100191, Beijing, China;Sun Yat-Sen Global Health Institute, Sun Yat-Sen University, 510080, Guangzhou, China;Center for Health Information Research, Sun Yat-Sen University, 510080, Guangzhou, China;

关键词: Aging;    Disease burden;    Generational relationship;    Healthy life expectancy;    Multimorbidity;    Non-communicable diseases;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12877-022-03714-z

 received in 2022-09-14, accepted in 2022-12-23,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

ObjectiveIn the context of aging, Chinese families consisting of more than three generations (grandparents, parents, children) are the norm. The second generation (parents) and other family members may establish a downward (contact only with children) or two-way multi-generational relationship (contact with children and grandparents). These multi-generational relationships may have the potential effect on multimorbidity burden and healthy life expectancy in the second generation, but less is known about the direction and intensity of this effect. This study aims to explore this potential effect.MethodsWe obtained longitudinal data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study from 2011 to 2018, which included 6,768 people. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess the association between multi-generational relationships and the number of multimorbidity. The Markov multi-state transition model was used to analyze the relationship between multi-generational relationships and the severity of multimorbidity. The multistate life table was used to calculate healthy life expectancy for different multi-generational relationships.ResultsThe risk of multimorbidity in two-way multi-generational relationship was 0.830 (95% CIs: 0.715, 0.963) times higher than that in downward multi-generational relationship. For mild multimorbidity burden, downward and two-way multi-generational relationship may prevent aggravation of burden. For severe multimorbidity burden, two-way multi-generational relationship may aggravate the burden. Compared with two-way multi-generational relationship, the second generations with downward multi-generational relationship has a higher healthy life expectancy at all ages.ConclusionIn Chinese families with more than three generations, the second generations with severe multimorbidity burden may aggravate the condition by providing support to elderly grandparents, and the support provided by offspring to the second generations plays a vital positive role in improving the quality of life and narrowing the gap between healthy life expectancy and life expectancy.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

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