Disparity in self-rated health between male and female elderly: a Fairlie decomposition analysis / 中华疾病控制杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the disparity and factors of self-rated health between male and female elderly so as to provide evidence for narrowing the disparity and promoting health equity. Methods We extracted data from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study in 2013. Fairlie decomposition was adopted to analyze the disparity of self-rated health between 3 744 male and female elderly who were 65 and older. Results The male elderly reported a significantly higher ratio of good health than the female elderly(47.1% vs 41.6%, 2=11.74, P<0.001). Fairlie decomposition analysis revealed that lifestyle, income and educational level were significant influencing factor for self-rated health (all P<0.05), which could explain 73.98%, 17.48% and 16.70% of the overall disparity in self-rated health among the elderly. Conclusions There is a disparity between male and female elderly’s self-rated health. The self-rated health of male elderly is better than that of female elderly. It would contribute to the equity of male and female elderly’s health by promoting publicity of health education and advocating healthy lifestyle of female elderly.