Does urban-rural disparity exist in nicotine and alcohol dependence among Chinese older adults?

Abstract

Background

China is a large country with substantial urban-rural disparity. With the increasing concerns related to the rapid growth of the older adult population and problems related to smoking and alcohol consumption, this study aims to examine the potential urban-rural disparity associated with nicotine or alcohol dependence among Chinese older adults.

Methods

We used three waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey and included older adults who were 65 years old or above (CLHLS; n = 18,207). The Heckman two-step selection procedure was applied to reduce potential selection bias. The first and the second steps of the Heckman two-step selection procedure all included multivariable logistic regressions.

Results

In the final study sample, approximately 8.1% and 4.0% of older adults reported nicotine and alcohol dependence, respectively. In the first step of the Heckman selection procedure, urban residents were less likely to become current smokers and alcohol users than rural residents (all p < .05). However, urban-rural disparity was not associated with either nicotine or alcohol dependence (all p > .05).

Conclusions

We did not observe the urban-rural disparity in nicotine and alcohol dependence among Chinese older adults. Chinese policymakers should continue to strengthen national policy to combat smoking and alcohol consumption, especially older adults.

Keywords:

• Smoking
• alcohol consumption
• nicotine dependence
• alcohol dependence
• older adults
• China

Acknowledgement

Data used for this research were provided by the ‘Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey’ (CLHLS) managed by the Center for Healthy Aging and Development Studies, Peking University. CLHLS is supported by funds from the U.S. National Institutes on Aging (NIA), China Natural Science Foundation, China Social Science Foundation, and United Nations Population Fund. We thank research participants and researchers for their efforts in collecting the CLHLS data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval statement

All participants provided informed consent to the data investigators. Because this study relied on secondary data analysis, further documentations from Institutional Review Board (IRB) were not required at authors’ institutions. No experimental interventions were conducted.

Additional information

Funding

The research ethics committees of Duke University and Peking University approved the CLHLS study and design [IRB00001052-13074].