ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1577541
This article is part of the Research TopicUrban AgingView all 4 articles
Analysis of Urban-Rural Differences in Cognitive Function Among Empty nest Elderly in China Based on Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition
Provisionally accepted
- Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China
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Objective: This study aims to explore the cognitive status and urban-rural differences of empty nest elderly in China, analyze in depth the possible reasons for these differences, and provide reference for developing targeted prevention strategies for the risk of cognitive impairment.A cross-sectional survey was conducted on empty nest elderly people from 35 cities and rural areas in 14 regions of Guangxi, China to evaluate their chronic disease prevalence, anxiety, depression, and cognitive status. The influencing factors and sensitivity of cognitive function impairment in empty nest elderly people in urban and rural areas were analyzed, and the Oaxaca Blinder decomposition method was used to analyze the urban-rural differences in cognitive function of empty nest elderly people.Results: A total of 2083 empty nest elderly people were included, with a prevalence of the risk of cognitive impairment of 30.24%. Among them, the proportion of the risk of cognitive impairment was 33.33% (362/1086) in rural empty-nest elderly, higher than 26.88% (268/997) in urban empty-nest elderly. Older age, lower education level, and depression were common risk factors for cognitive impairment in both urban and rural empty-nest elderly (P<0.05). Notably, rural empty-nest elderly showed sensitivity to the number of chronic illnesses and cervical and lumbar spondylosis. Among the differences in cognitive function among empty-nest elderly, 47.64% were related to the place of residence itself. Individual characteristic differences between urban and rural empty-nest elderly in education level (44.09%), number of chronic illnesses (27.74%), depression (15.75%), osteoporosis (10.79%), and age (6.19%) exacerbated the cognitive function differences.The proportion of the risk of cognitive impairment among empty nest elderly in rural areas is higher than that in urban areas, and education level is the most important factor affecting the difference in cognitive function between urban and rural areas. It is suggested to improve health education in rural areas, narrow the urban-rural gap in cognitive function of empty nest elderly, and promote fairness in medical service supply.
Keywords: Empty nest elderly, the risk of cognitive impairment, Urban and rural, Difference analysis, Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition
Received: 16 Feb 2025; Accepted: 17 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pan, Zhang, Lai, Zhang and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Li-Yan Zhang, Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China
Hui-Qiao Huang, Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China
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