Regional disparity on life expectancy, active life expectancy in the elderly from Beijing

Abstract

To explore the regional disparity in life expectancy (LE), active life expectancy (ALE), active life expectancy/life expectancy (ALE/LE) of the elderly in Beijing and to express the impact of hypertension upon those indices. The sample was derived from a "Beijing multidimensional longitudinal study on aging", including those from urban district (Xuanwu), rural district (Daxing and Huairou) by well-established statistical sampling techniques. Baseline survey comprised 1847 people aged 60 years or over, living in the communities in Beijing in 2004. The subjects under research were investigated with questionnaires at home by well-trained interviews and the contents would include: degree of education, occupation, medical history of hypertension together with repeated blood pressure measurements. Someone being "active" was defined as the ability in performing activities of daily life (ADL). IMaCH software for multi-state life table method was used to calculate the life expectancy (LE), active life expectancy (ALE) and active life expectancy/life expectancy (ALE/LE) in different district and the hypertensive exert influence on those indices. Data from the study showed that people inhabited in the rural district had lower LE, ALE and degree of education (illiteracy account for 66.2 percentage), but with more physical activities (account for 95.5 percentage) and higher ALE/LE than urban district people. Regional disparity in Females was obvious than in males while hypertension would exert more influence on LE of the urban women, which widened the gap in LE, ALE of males and ALE of females between the urban and rural areas. Regional disparity was found existing in LE, ALE, ALE/LE of the elderly from Beijing, particularly in females. Hypertension widened the gap and decreased the quality of life on senior citizens in the rural areas. This finding underlined the influence of habitation on the quality of life which manifested the importance of prevention regarding high blood pressure.