The influence of empty-nest living on the health of the older people living in the rural areas of Lishui, China: A cross-sectional study

The empty-nest older people are becoming a significant social phenomenon in the rural of China. Most studies on the health of the empty-nest older people contain these older people who have no children or dead children. The emotional experience of the older people with and without children is quite different, our study only chose the empty-nest older people who had children in the rural of Lishui, China. The purpose of this study is to explore the differences of the health conditions between empty-nest and non-empty-nest older people living in the rural areas of China, including items of chronic metabolic diseases, fall injury, and mental health. Our research found that empty-nest older people had higher incidence of fall injury (17.00% vs 6.31%, P = .006) and suffer more severe depression (P = .015) than the non-empty-nest older people. The adjusted odds ratio of fall injury and depression for empty-nest older people compared with the non-empty-nest older people were 2.76 (95% CI, 1.17–6.48) and 2.25 (95% CI, 1.36–3.67), respectively. Our results suggest that empty-nest older people are more likely to suffer from depression and fall injury than non-empty-nest older people living in the rural of China.