Smoking, Alcohol Consumption and the Oldest Old’s Health

This chapter relies on CCREMs to evaluate time-series data drawn from CLHLS that span 20 years to investigate the changing patterns of Chinese oldest old’s health and their smoking and alcohol use behaviors. Descriptive results show that the percentage of the oldest old who smoked both in the past and at present show a declining trend over time. The descriptive results also indicate that the percentage of constant smokers has been decreasing across birth cohorts, which suggests a healthier lifestyle among younger birth cohorts. Similar to smoking behavior, the percentage of the oldest old who constantly consumed alcohol also shows a declining trend. But no significant cohort changes are observed in such a percentage. This finding suggests that alcohol use behavior is relatively stable across birth cohorts. The results drawn from the CCREMs highlight the period and cohort effects when linking health disparities to the oldest old’s smoking and alcohol use behaviors. Overall, the cohort effects are not as apparent as period effects. These findings have enriched the existing analyses and theories on health lifestyles and the oldest old’s health.