Regional disparities in self-reported health: evidence from chinese older adults. Academic Article

abstract

• Despite the subjectivity inherent in individuals' interpretation of good health, self-reported health is widely used in health-related studies. With data from the pilot survey of the new China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this paper applies the vignette method to control for differences in individual response scales and examines regional differences in self-reported health among the elderly in China. The results show that people in different provinces seem to use different criteria when assessing their health conditions. Regional health disparities are underestimated if differentials in response scales are not accounted for. A substantial share of the disparities cannot be explained by the observed differences in respondents' chronic health condition, demographic characteristics, and household wealth, a finding confirmed by a test based on inpatient-care information.

authors

• Mu, Ren

published proceedings

• Health Econ

author list (cited authors)

• Mu, R.

citation count

• 28

complete list of authors

• Mu, Ren

publication date

• May 2014

publisher

• Wiley  Publisher

published in

• Health Economics  Journal

keywords

• Age Factors
• Aged
• China
• Chronic Disease
• Female
• Health Disparities
• Health Status Disparities
• Health Surveys
• Humans
• Income
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Models, Statistical
• Residence Characteristics
• Self Report
• Self-reported Health
• Sex Factors
• Socioeconomic Factors
• Vignette

PubMed Central ID

• 23657941

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1002/hec.2929

start page

• 529

end page

• 549

volume

• 23

issue

• 5

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hec.2929

user-defined tag

• 3 Good Health and Well-Being