Association between social capital and health-related quality of life among left behind and not left behind older people in rural China

BMC Geriatrics

Research Article

Pär Schön¹  Bo Burström²  Kristina Burström³  Yaqin Zhong⁴ 

[1] Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden;Equity and Health Policy Research Group, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;Equity and Health Policy Research Group, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;Health Outcomes and Economic Evaluation Research Group, Stockholm Centre for Healthcare Ethics, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;Equity and Health Policy Research Group, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;School of Public Health, Nantong University, 9 Seyuan Road, 226019, Nantong, Jiangsu, China;Health Outcomes and Economic Evaluation Research Group, Stockholm Centre for Healthcare Ethics, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;

关键词: Social capital;    Health-related quality of life;    Left behind;    Older people;    Rural China;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12877-017-0679-x

 received in 2017-05-01, accepted in 2017-11-30,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe association between social capital and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has not been thoroughly studied among older persons in rural China, especially among those who were left behind or not. This study investigates the association between social capital and HRQoL and examines possible differences of this association between being left behind or not in rural China.MethodsA cross-sectional survey of 825 people aged 60 years and older, residing in three rural counties in Jiangsu Province in China, was conducted in 2013. Factor analysis was performed to measure social capital. EQ-5D was used to measure HRQoL. Tobit regression analysis with upper censoring was conducted to explore the association between social capital and EQ-5D index.ResultsAfter controlling for individual characteristics, low social capital and being left behind were significantly associated with low HRQoL. Old people with low social capital had 0.055 lower EQ-5D index compared to those with high social capital. Old people being left behind had 0.040 lower EQ-5D index compared to those who were not left behind. For different dimensions of social capital, the main effects came from the domain of trust and reciprocity. There was a significant interaction between low social capital and being left behind on HRQoL, suggesting that low social capital was associated with low HRQoL among persons left behind.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that the left behind old people with low social capital were a potentially vulnerable group in rural China. Formulating and implementing initiatives and strategies which increase social capital may foster better HRQoL, especially for old people who were left behind.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017