Socioeconomic status, lifestyle, and hypertension prevalence of the older adults in China

Aims To examine the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and hypertension prevalence among the older adults in China. Method We used the panel data of the three rounds (2006, 2009, and 2011) of the China Nutrition and Health Survey to examine the relationship adjusted for lifestyle factors by multi-level logistic regression. Results Income and urbanicity levels are associated with hypertension in men. Men with low and middle income and living in low and middle urbanicity areas are more likely to have hypertension. Income and education are associated with hypertension in women. Women with low or middle income are more likely to have hypertension; women with lower education levels are less likely to have hypertension; women who never attended school are nearly as prone to get the disease as those who had high school or above education. Conclusion Income, and community urbanicity level are reversely correlated with hypertension prevalence among older Chinese men and women; hypertension prevalence rates of older Chinese women vary by education levels without a gradient.