Editorial

Care of older people in China

BMJ 2009; 338 doi: 10.1136/bmj.b601 (Published 9 April 2009)
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b601

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  1. Zhanlian Feng, assistant professor of community health
  1. 1Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research, Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School, Providence, RI 02903, USA
  1. Zhanlian_Feng{at}brown.edu

    Daunting challenges lie ahead in providing chronic care for the aged

    In the linked study (doi:10.1136/bmj.b1175), Dupre and colleagues assess the relation between levels of frailty and type of death in a prospective cohort study of older adults in China, using recent data from two waves (2002 and 2005) of the Chinese longitudinal healthy longevity survey.1 The study found that higher levels of frailty at baseline significantly increased the overall risk of death in the subsequent three year period, as would be expected. More interestingly, frailty had varying effects on people’s dying experiences, mainly with respect to sex and age. In general, elderly women had a higher risk of mortality relative to men as frailty increased. Although both elderly men and women with the highest level of frailty (ranked in upper quarter of the frailty index) …

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