Table 1.

Demographic characteristics of participants (n = 427)

Variable	Categories	n	%
Age, year	60–69	172	40.28
	70–79	188	44.03
	≥ 80	67	15.69
	Mean (SD)	72.04 (7.45)
Sex	Male	173	40.50
	Female	254	59.50
Education	Primary school or below	133	31.15
	Junior high school	133	31.15
	High school or technical secondary school	113	26.46
	Junior college or above	48	11.24
Marriage	Married and spouse alive	324	75.88
	Other	103	24.12
Residential status	Live with spouse	199	46.60
	Live with children	89	20.84
	Live with spouse and children	113	26.46
	Live alone	26	6.09
The number of children	0	6	1.41
	1	195	45.67
	≥ 2	226	52.93
Occupation before retirement	Employees of enterprises and institutions	159	37.24
	Other	268	62.76
Source of income	Pension	347	81.26
	Other	80	18.74
Monthly personal income (RMB)	< 1000 yuan	48	11.24
	1000–3000 yuan	174	40.75
	3000–5000 yuan	185	43.33
	≥ 5000 yuan	20	4.68
Medical insurance type	Medical insurance for urban employees	322	75.41
	Medical insurance for urban and rural residents	97	22.72
	Other	8	1.87
Self-care	Completely self-care	395	92.51
	Partly self-care	32	7.49
	Completely unable to self-care	0	0.00
The number of chronic diseases	Single disease	269	63.00
	Coexistence of multiple diseases (≥ 2)	158	37.00
Duration of chronic disease, year	≤ 5	118	27.63
	6–10	122	28.57
	11–15	85	19.91
	16–20	59	13.82
	> 20	43	10.07
Taking medicine kinds a day	< 5	384	89.93
	≥ 5	43	10.07
Taking medicine times a day	1	176	41.22
	2	136	31.85
	≥ 3	115	26.93
Whether adverse drug events have occurred	Yes	9	2.11
	No	397	92.97
	Uncertainty	21	4.92
Whether hospitalized due to chronic diseases	Yes	49	11.48
	No	378	88.52