Figure 1.

Roadmap for evaluating the association of life course circumstances with two aging measures.

The roadmap depicts our analytical procedures. We assembled analytic samples and a large array of variables from the 2014 life course survey, the 2015 biomarker collection, and the 2015 main survey of CHARLS. We categorized a large array of variables across the life course into 11 study domains, including six childhood circumstances domains, three adulthood circumstances domains, one behaviours domain, and one demographic domain. We then performed three analyses to evaluate the association of these domains (particularly the childhood and adulthood circumstances domains) with two aging measures. CHARLS=the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. PD=physiological dysregulation. FI=frailty index. PCA=principal component analysis.