Description: Objective Willingness to receive eldercare is an important factor affecting the reasonable allocation of resources and appropriate development of eldercare services. This study aimed to investigate the differences in willingness to receive eldercare and the influencing factors in urban and rural areas. Design Cross-sectional survey. Setting Research was conducted in the urban and rural areas of three cities (Harbin, Qiqihar and Jiamusi) in Heilongjiang province, China. Participants A total of 1003 elderly were selected through multistage sampling in Heilongjiang province, including 581 in urban areas and 422 in rural areas. Main outcome measures Descriptive statistics were reported for socioeconomic and demographic status, physical health, life satisfaction and social support in urban and rural areas. Mean differences were examined using t-tests, and categorical variable differences were examined using 2 tests. The factors influencing willingness to receive eldercare in urban and rural areas were analysed using logistic regression. Results The results showed that 51.6% of urban elderly and 59.0% of rural elderly preferred family eldercare. Factors that influenced willingness to receive eldercare for urban elderly were age (OR 2.791, 95% CI 1.644 to 4.737), house property (OR 0.494, 95% CI 0.329 to 0.740) and objective support (OR 0.764, 95% CI 0.681 to 0.858). For rural elderly, the factors were having children (OR 0.368, 95% CI 0.146 to 0.930), house property (OR 0.371, 95% CI 0.231 to 0.596) and living arrangement (OR 3.361, 95% CI 1.436 to 7.866). Conclusion More attention should be paid to improving the functioning of family eldercare and promoting the development of varied eldercare services. Investments and targeted policies should be undertaken for different subgroups of urban and rural elderly.

Description: Objective To examine the association between early-life exposure to the Chinese famine and the risk of chronic lung diseases in adulthood. Design Data analysis from a cross-sectional survey. Setting and participants 4135 subjects were enrolled into the study from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2011–2012 baseline survey to analyse the associations between prenatal and early postnatal famine exposure and the risk of chronic lung diseases in adulthood. Main outcome measures Chronic lung diseases were defined based on self-reported information. Results The prevalence of self-reported chronic lung diseases in fetus-exposed, infant-exposed, preschool-exposed, and non-exposed groups was 6.5%, 7.9%, 6.8%, and 6.1%, respectively. The risk of chronic lung diseases in the infant-exposed group was significantly higher (OR 1.95, 95% CI 1.10 to 3.44) than the non-exposed group in severely affected areas, even after adjusting for gender, smoking, and drinking, family economic status, and the highest educational attainment of the parents (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.26 to 5.25). In addition, after stratification by gender and famine severity, we found that only infant exposure to the severe famine was associated with the elevated risk of chronic lung diseases among male adults (OR 3.16, 95% CI 1.17 to 8.51). Conclusions Severe famine exposure during the period of infancy might increase the risk of chronic lung diseases in male adults.

Description: Objectives To study the correlation between dietary factors and the number of altered metabolic syndrome components (MetS) in Chinese adults systematically. Setting A cross-sectional study using demographic and dietary data of adults aged 18–75 years from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (2009) was conducted in nine provinces in China. Participants There were 6034 eligible subjects (2800 men and 3234 women) in this study. Outcomes The primary outcome of this study were diet assessments and the number of altered MetS components. Dietary intake was measured using a combination of a 3-day period with 24-hour and household food inventory; average daily intakes of nutrients were estimated according to the Chinese Food Composition Table. Blood samples were analysed in a national central laboratory and the number of clustering MetS components was calculated by adding the presence of each MetS component. Results After adjusting for covariates, and taking zero MetS as comparison, the high risk factors correlating with increased numbers of altered MetS components in men were higher intake of protein (70.4–73.4 g; P trend=0.0004), cholesterol (238.7–266.6 mg; P trend=0.004), meat (90.6–105.7 g; P trend=0.016), fish/seafood (30.4–42.3 g; P trend=0.001), and lower intake of coarse cereals (16.5–12.7 g; P trend=0.051), tubers (37.3–32.7 g; P trend=0.030), and dietary fibre (11.7–11.5 g; ANCOVA p=0.058). Meanwhile, the high risk factors correlating with the increased number of altered MetS components in women were higher intake of wheat (101.9–112.6 g; P trend=0.066) and sodium (3862.3–4005.7 mg, P trend=0.032), and lower intake of β-carotene (1578.6–1382.7 µg; P trend=0.007), milk, and dairy products (17.8–11.5 g; P trend=0.002). Conclusions Some foods and nutritional factors correlate with an increased number of altered MetS components in Chinese adults. More prospective, multicentre and clinical research work to further examine these associations is underway.