Conclusion

This chapter first concludes main points and findings from each chapter. It tries to bring together several areas of the book to illuminate how this manuscript improves our understanding of Chinese oldest old’s health from a longitudinal point of view. In addition, the chapter details significant period and cohort variations in the associations between Chinese oldest old’s health and a number of important health determinants, including demographic, SES and healthy lifestyle factors. It places future research attention on applying a longitudinal scope to scientific studies of the oldest old’s health. The chapter also mentions several limitations of the study that need to be improved in future analyses. It suggests future research to continue this work by bringing other social, behavioral, lifestyle and cultural factors into the analyses, such as intergenerational relations, living arrangements, internet use, religious participation, social networking and so forth to advance this current research. In addition, it urges future studies to discover the reasons that have caused the period and cohort variations in Chinese oldest old’s health and investigate possible solutions to prevent detrimental influence of negative social events on the oldest old’s health.