Table 1.
Key characteristics of the study sample at baseline by educational level.
| Variable | Full sample | Limited education | Primary and junior high schools | High school and above | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | N | (%) | N | (%) | N | (%) | |
| Low income | |||||||
| Yes | 1754 | 820 | (28.7) | 750 | (19.8) | 184 | (13.1) |
| No | 6,296 | 2,042 | (71.3) | 3,035 | (80.2) | 1,219 | (86.9) |
| Occupation | |||||||
| Managers and professionals | 469 | 13 | (0.5) | 121 | (3.2) | 335 | (23.9) |
| Self-employed | 823 | 196 | (6.9) | 469 | (12.4) | 158 | (11.2) |
| Agricultural workers | 3,531 | 1,696 | (59.3) | 1,583 | (41.8) | 252 | (18.0) |
| Manual workers | 1,474 | 355 | (12.3) | 810 | (21.4) | 309 | (22.0) |
| Unemployed | 1,753 | 602 | (21.0) | 802 | (21.2) | 349 | (24.9) |
| Depression | |||||||
| Yes | 1,922 | 956 | (33.4) | 806 | (21.3) | 160 | (11.4) |
| No | 6,128 | 1,906 | (66.6) | 2,979 | (78.7) | 1,243 | (88.6) |
| Smoking status | |||||||
| Current | 2,477 | 626 | (21.9) | 1,393 | (36.8) | 458 | (32.6) |
| Former | 528 | 146 | (5.1) | 266 | (7.0) | 116 | (8.3) |
| Never | 5,045 | 2090 | (73.0) | 2,126 | (56.2) | 829 | (59.1) |
| Alcohol drinking status | |||||||
| Current heavy | 1,248 | 309 | (10.8) | 690 | (18.2) | 249 | (17.8) |
| Current light | 1,585 | 410 | (14.3) | 802 | (21.2) | 373 | (26.6) |
| Former or never | 5,217 | 2,143 | (74.9) | 2,293 | (60.6) | 781 | (55.6) |
| Social medical insurance scheme | |||||||
| Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance | 816 | 37 | (1.3) | 299 | (7.9) | 480 | (34.2) |
| Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance | 360 | 68 | (2.4) | 185 | (4.9) | 107 | (7.6) |
| New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme | 6,004 | 2,504 | (87.5) | 2,917 | (77.1) | 583 | (41.6) |
| Urban and Rural Resident Medical Insurance | 100 | 27 | (0.9) | 57 | (1.5) | 16 | (1.1) |
| Government Medical Insurance (Gong Fei) | 115 | 4 | (0.1) | 24 | (0.6) | 87 | (6.2) |
| Uninsured | 655 | 222 | (7.8) | 303 | (8.0) | 130 | (9.3) |
| Urban–rural residence | |||||||
| Rural | 4,670 | 2061 | (72.0) | 2,149 | (56.8) | 460 | (32.8) |
| Urban | 3,380 | 801 | (28.0) | 1,636 | (43.2) | 943 | (67.2) |
| Sex | |||||||
| Female | 4,363 | 2087 | (73.0) | 1,690 | (44.7) | 585 | (41.7) |
| Male | 3,687 | 774 | (27.0) | 2094 | (55.3) | 818 | (58.3) |
| Marital status | |||||||
| Yes | 7,578 | 2,637 | (92.1) | 3,612 | (95.4) | 1,329 | (94.7) |
| No | 472 | 225 | (7.9) | 173 | (4.6) | 74 | (5.3) |
| Age (years) | 8,050 | 2,862 | 3,785 | 1,403 | |||
| M | (53.6) | M | (51.5) | M | (51.4) | ||
| SD | (4.3) | SD | (4.5) | SD | (3.9) | ||
| Attrition number | |||||||
| 2013 | 1,067 | 323 | (11.3) | 493 | (13.0) | 251 | (17.9) |
| 2015 | 623 | 167 | (6.6) | 276 | (7.9) | 180 | (15.6) |
| 2018 | 544 | 187 | (7.9) | 254 | (8.4) | 103 | (10.6) |
The order of the social medical insurance schemes simply follows that used presented in the CHARLS survey.