Analysis on the relationship between urbanization and health behavior in China: An empirical research based on China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) / 北京大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the relationship between urbanization and residents ' health behaviors in China, and to clarify the impact of urbanization on health behaviors.@*METHODS@#Based on China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), we established a panel data fixed effect model tracked in 2011, 2013 and 2015 to analyze the effect of urbanization level on smoking cessation, drinking, sleep quality and physical exercise behavior. The ratio of population density, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and output value of secondary and tertiary industries to GDP were used to represent the levels of urbanization.@*RESULTS@#From 2011 to 2015, China ' s urbanization levels showed an increasing trend, which showed that the ratio of population density, GDP per capita and output value of secondary and tertiary industries in GDP increased year by year. Smoking cessation increased with the increase of GDP per capita and the proportion of the output value of secondary and tertiary industries. Compared with the low-level, the drinking rate in the regions with per capita GDP of more than 45 000 yuan increased by 2.49%, and the drinking rate in the regions with secondary and tertiary industries for 80%-85% decreased by 2.48%. However, there was no significant difference with population density. The sleep quality decreased with the increase of per capita GDP. In regions where per capita GDP was more than 93%, the sleep quality decreased by 3.71% compared with the low-level which was not significantly different from the ratio of population density and the output value of secondary and tertiary industries. For low contrast, the exercise rate in regions with the population density of 400-600 people/km2 and over 800 people/km2 was reduced by 5.2% and 7.7% respectively. The exercise rate in regions with per capita GDP of 25 000-35 000 yuan and over 45 000 yuan was reduced by 3.26% and 3.73% respectively. The exercise rate in regions with secondary and tertiary industries accounting for more than 93% of GDP was 10.68% lower than that of the low-level regions.@*CONCLUSION@#Different dimensions of urbanization have different impacts on different health behaviors. The smoking cessation rate increases with the increase of urbanization level, which is related to the proportion of per capita GDP and the output value of secondary and tertiary industries. The exercise rate, related to the three dimensions, decreases with the increase of urbanization. Sleep quality is more closely related to per capita GDP, and the probability of good sleep quality decreases with the increase of urbanization level. However, there is no obvious trend between drinking rate and urbanization level, which needs further study.