Investigating Health Status Among Women Aged 50-70 years old in Hunan Province, China: A Cross-Sectional study

Background: As promotion of the Global strategy and action plan on ageing and health 2016-2020 and the Outline of the "Healthy China 2030" Plan, healthy ageing becomes a hot pot. It is crucial to identify health status of senior women and acquire characteristics of them. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the health of women aged 50-70 in Hunan Province of China, come out coping strategy and prompt an active discussion for healthy ageing.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 20 communities randomly selected from 5 sampled districts and 5counties in Hunan Province. A self-designed and structured questionnaire was used, included demographic data, diseases-related information, self-reported health, health behaviors, and psychological health. The data was collected by well-trained workers, double-entered into EpiData 3.0 and analyzed by SPSS 19.0.Results: Among the 2585 senior women, 51.0% was chronic diseases, 49.6% was gynecopathy and 23.6% was mastopathy. Age [OR=1.394, 95% CI=(1.63-1.670)], household type [OR=1.700, 95% CI=(1.416-2.042)], BMI [OR=1.194, 95% CI=(1.043-1.367)], average monthly household income [OR=0.884, 95% CI=(0.809-0.965)] and self-reported physical health [OR=4.659, 95% CI=(3.913-5.546)] were significantly associated with chronic diseases. Age [OR=0.668, 95% CI=(0.564-0.792)], household type [OR=1.335, 95% CI=(1.094-1.629)], occupation [OR=1.045, 95% CI=(1.002-1.090)], average monthly household income [OR=1.243, 95% CI=(1.143-1.352)] and self-reported physical health [OR=1.748, 95% CI=(1.510-2.024)] were significantly associated with gynecopathy. Age [OR=0.749, 95% CI=(0.616-0.910)], household type [OR=1.603, 95% CI=(1.269-2.026)], occupation [OR=1.057, 95% CI=(1.009-1.108)], average monthly household income [OR=1.233, 95% CI=(1.127-1.350)] and self-reported physical health [OR=1.272, 95% CI=(1.077-1.502)] were significantly associated with mastopathy. Age [OR=0.778, 95% CI=(0.645-0.939)], household type [OR=2.090, 95% CI=(1.733-2.520)], and BMI [OR=1.218, 95% CI=(1.061-1.399)] were significantly associated with exposure to secondhand smoke. Age [OR=0.829, 95% CI=(0.701-0.980)] and occupation [OR=0.956, 95% CI=(0.923-0.990)] were significantly associated with regular physical examinations. Household type [OR=0.642, 95% CI=(0.398-1.035)] and self-reported physical health [OR=1.983, 95% CI=(1.340-2.935)] were significantly associated with anxiety.Conclusion: This cross-sectional study shows good description as an appropriate investigation for the identification of women aged 50-70 with certain diseases, health behaviors and psychological health problems in a representative and community-conducted sample of women in Hunan Province of China. It discloses their poor health status.