Household Structure and Dietary Diversity Among Older Adults in Rural and Urban China: a Cross-sectional Study

Overview

Journal BMC Public Health

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Public Health

Date 2024 Oct 31

PMID 39478515

Authors

Congcong Deng

Paolo Miguel Manalang Vicerra

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Household structure can significantly affect older adults' eating behaviours and diet quality. However, the difference in dietary diversity in various household structures in urban and rural has rarely been investigated. This study aimed to investigate the association between household structure and dietary diversity among older Chinese adults and examine whether the association differed by urban and rural.

Methods: The study used data from the 2018 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). The participants were individuals aged 60 and over with available dietary and household structure data. Dietary diversity was defined as 'high' if respondents had a dietary diversity score (DDS) above the mean value. Household structures were classified into four mutually exclusive categories: (1) living alone; (2) spouse only; (3) at least with a great/grandchild(ren); (4) non-empty-nested. Binary logistic regression was applied to investigate the association between household structures and dietary diversity.

Results: Non-empty-nested older adults had the highest probability (OR = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.44-1.87) of having high dietary diversity. People who only lived with their spouse and at least lived with a great/grandchild(ren) were 1.45 (OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.23-1.71) and 1.23 (OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.08-1.41) times as likely to have diverse diets than older adults who lived alone. The difference in dietary diversity among various household structures is more evident in urban than rural areas. Solo-living older adults were the most disadvantaged regarding dietary diversity in urban and rural areas.

Conclusions: Household structures are significantly associated with dietary diversity among older Chinese adults aged 60 years and over. The findings emphasise the need to reduce nutritional inequality, encourage dietary diversity, and consider both the household structures and residences when providing health intervention programs to the older population.

Citing Articles

Oral health and nutrition: addressing disparities in socioeconomically disadvantaged older adults in rural China.

Gao Q, Wang X, Jiang Y, Chen W, Gao K, Shi Y BMC Public Health. 2025; 25(1):977.

PMID: 40075350 PMC: 11905595. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-025-22101-y.

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