The relationship and mechanism between education and functional health status transition among older persons in China

BACKGROUND: Despite decades of study, debates exist surrounding the relationship between education and functional health status transition among elderly populations. This study aims to add evidence to the debates using China as a case study. Specifically, this study analysed the association of education with functional health status transition and then the mechanism behind that association using the budget constraint relax hypothesis and the efficiency improvement hypothesis among elderly population in China. METHODS: Based on data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Surveys from 2008 and 2011, this study focussed on adults aged 65 years and above, with a final sample size of 12,112. A generalised structural equation model was used to analyse the relationship between education and functional health status transition and the mechanism behind that association. RESULTS: During the three examined years, among elderly adults who were nondisabled at baseline, 53.1% stayed nondisabled, 14.6% became disabled, and 32.3% died; among those disabled in 2008, 8.1% recovered, 21.6% stayed disabled, and 70.3% died. Compared with older adults without any education, those who had attended primary schools had both lower mortality and disability, whereas those who had attended high schools and above only had a lower mortality rate. The budget constraint relax hypothesis and the efficiency improvement hypothesis explained the majority of the relationship between education and transition from non-disability to death, but hardly explained the transition from non-disability to disability. Furthermore, once a person was disabled, education had no significant relationship with functional ability recovery or mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Attending primary school seems to provide the highest benefit to functional health status transition among older and nondisabled persons in China. Those who attended high schools and above are expected to live a longer life with disability. The mechanism between education and the onset of disability needs more discussion.