Prevalence of cognitive impairment and its related factors among Chinese older adults: an analysis based on the 2018 CHARLS data

Xueqin Wu; Yufu Tang; Yushan He; Qiwei Wang; Yinhui Wang; Xiujun Qin

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1500172

Prevalence of cognitive impairment and its related factors among Chinese older adults: an analysis based on the 2018 CHARLS data

Front Public Health. 2024 Dec 24:12:1500172. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1500172. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Xueqin Wu^{1

2}, Yufu Tang³, Yushan He², Qiwei Wang^{2

4}, Yinhui Wang², Xiujun Qin²

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China.
² Shanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Drug Toxicology and Radiation Damage Drugs, Department of Radiology and Environmental Medicine, China Institute for Radiation Protection, Taiyuan, China.
³ Division of Radiology and Environmental Medicine, China Institute for Radiation Protection, Taiyuan, China.
⁴ School of Pharmacy, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

Abstract

Background: Cognitive impairment is a major public health concern in aging societies. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of cognitive impairment and its associated factors among Chinese adults aged 60 years and older using data from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS).

Methods: Utilizing data from the 2018 wave of CHARLS, we assessed participants' cognitive status using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and the influencing factors related to cognitive impairment were analyzed by using the chi-square test and multifactor logistic regression. The prevalence of cognitive impairment was stratified by gender, education level, residence, marital status, daytime napping, and nighttime sleep duration, and the trend of cognitive impairment prevalence with age was observed.

Results: 9,804 participants were finally included in the study and the overall prevalence of cognitive impairment was 44.04% (95%CI, 43.02-45.06%). The prevalence was significantly higher in females (50.8%) than males (37.1%), and increased with age, from 41.5% in those aged 60-64 years to 57.7% in those aged ≥75 years. Lower educational level, rural residence, and being divorced/ widowed/unmarried were associated with a higher prevalence of cognitive impairment (all p < 0.001). Multifactor logistic regression indicated that older age (OR = 1.51, 95%CI, 1.33-1.73 for ≥75 vs. 60-64 years), female gender (OR = 1.54, 95%CI, 1.35-1.77), higher education (OR = 0.46, 95%CI, 0.42-0.51 for primary school and below vs. illiteracy), rural areas (OR = 2.35, 95%CI, 2.07-2.65 for village vs. the center of city/town), divorced/ widowed/unmarried status (OR = 1.40, 95%CI, 1.25-1.57) and participation in physical activity (OR = 0.80, 95%CI, 0.73-0.87) were significantly associated with cognitive impairment.

Conclusion: Cognitive impairment is highly prevalent among older adults in China with substantial demographic disparities. Targeted interventions and public health strategies are needed to promote cognitive health in this rapidly aging population.

Keywords: CHARLS; Chinese older adult population; cognitive impairment; prevalence; risk factors.

MeSH terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
China / epidemiology
Cognitive Dysfunction* / epidemiology
East Asian People
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Middle Aged
Prevalence
Risk Factors

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was supported by the Shanxi Provincial Natural Science Fund (Grant Number: 202203021211005).