Skip to main content

Table 1 Health and demographics among Chinese adults aged 18 years and older: The 2020 China COVID-19 Survey (n = 8448)

From: Income-related health inequality among Chinese adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence based on an online survey

Variables

Total (n = 8448)

Female (n = 4747)

Male (n = 3701)

p value

 

Mean (SD)

/N (%)

Mean (SD)

/N (%)

Mean (SD)

/N (%)

 

Self-reported health (SRH)

 Excellent

3577 (42.34%)

1818 (38.30%)

1759 (47.53%)

< 0.001

 Very good

3296 (39.02%)

1982 (41.75%)

1314 (35.50%)

< 0.001

 Good

1341 (15.87%)

798 (16.81%)

543 (14.67%)

0.008

 Poor/fair

234 (2.77%)

149 (3.14%)

85 (2.30%)

0.019

Re-scaled latent SRH (\( {h}_i^{\ast } \))a

0.48 (0.13)

0.51 (0.13)

0.44 (0.13)

< 0.001

Mental healthb

10.62 (4.97)

10.27 (4.79)

11.06 (5.17)

< 0.001

Sociodemographic characteristics

 Age (in years)

32.04 (9.97)

32.79 (9.92)

31.08 (9.96)

< 0.001

 Education

  Low

163 (1.93%)

77 (1.62%)

86 (2.32%)

0.020

  Middle

3479 (41.18%)

2035 (42.87%)

1444 (39.02%)

< 0.001

  High

4806 (56.89%)

2635 (55.51%)

2171 (58.66%)

0.004

 Employment status

  Unemployed

936 (11.08%)

654 (13.78%)

282 (7.62%)

< 0.001

  Employed

5777 (68.38%)

3160 (66.57%)

2617 (70.71%)

< 0.001

  Student

1464 (17.33%)

731 (15.40%)

733 (19.81%)

< 0.001

  Retired

271 (3.21%)

202 (4.26%)

69 (1.86%)

< 0.001

 Marital status

  Unmarried

2508 (29.69%)

1225 (25.81%)

1283 (34.67%)

< 0.001

  Married/cohabiting

5774 (68.35%)

3414 (71.92%)

2360 (63.77%)

< 0.001

  Divorced/separated/widowed

166 (1.96%)

108 (2.28%)

58 (1.57%)

0.020

 Residence

  Rural

1282 (15.18%)

773 (16.28%)

509 (13.75%)

0.001

  Town

2074 (24.55%)

1293 (27.24%)

781 (21.10%)

< 0.001

  City

5092 (60.27%)

2681 (56.48%)

2411 (65.14%)

< 0.001

 Per capita household income last year (categorical)

  Low (1st tertile)

3592 (42.52%)

2063 (43.46%)

1529 (41.31%)

0.048

  Middle (2nd tertile)

2152 (25.47%)

1142 (24.06%)

1010 (27.29%)

< 0.001

  High (3rd tertile)

2704 (32.01%)

1542 (32.48%)

1162 (31.40%)

0.288

Chronic diseases (numbers)

 Numbers of suffering from chronic diseases

  0

6657 (78.80%)

3880 (81.74%)

2777 (75.03%)

< 0.001

  1

846 (10.01%)

455 (9.59%)

391 (10.56%)

0.137

  2

505 (5.98%)

233 (4.91%)

272 (7.35%)

< 0.001

   ≥ 3

440 (5.21%)

179 (3.77%)

261 (7.05%)

< 0.001

Lifestyles and medical insurance

 Alcohol drinking

  None

5710 (67.59%)

3934 (82.87%)

1776 (47.99%)

< 0.001

  Ex-drinker

785 (9.29%)

247 (5.20%)

538 (14.54%)

< 0.001

  Current drinker

1953 (23.12%)

566 (11.92%)

1387 (37.48%)

< 0.001

 Smoking

  None

6445 (76.29%)

4348 (91.59%)

2097 (56.66%)

< 0.001

  Ex-smoker

623 (7.37%)

160 (3.37%)

463 (12.51%)

< 0.001

  Current smoker

1380 (16.34%)

239 (5.03%)

1141 (30.83%)

< 0.001

 Knowledge of Chinese Dietary Pagoda

6145 (72.74%)

3431 (72.28%)

2714 (73.33%)

0.280

 Having medical insurance

7388 (87.45%)

4088 (86.12%)

3300 (89.17%)

< 0.001

COVID-19 related variables

 Losing job due to COVID-19

2958 (35.01%)

1461 (30.78%)

1497 (40.45%)

< 0.001

 Self-reported family member COVID-19 infection

786 (9.30%)

302 (6.36%)

484 (13.08%)

< 0.001

 Experiencing food shortage during COVID-19 lockdown

2389 (28.28%)

1106 (23.30%)

1283 (34.67%)

< 0.001

 Experiencing medication shortage during COVID-19 lockdown

2629 (31.12%)

1241 (26.14%)

1388 (37.50%)

< 0.001

 Engaging in any physical activity/exercise during COVID-19 lockdown

5283 (62.54%)

2787 (58.71%)

2496 (67.44%)

< 0.001

 Pandemic severity in the province of residencec

  Level 1 pandemic severity

218 (2.58%)

104 (2.19%)

114 (3.08%)

0.011

  Level 2 pandemic severity

684 (8.10%)

319 (6.72%)

365 (9.86%)

< 0.001

  Level 3 pandemic severity

681 (8.06%)

362 (7.63%)

319 (8.62%)

0.096

  Level 4 pandemic severity

4354 (51.54%)

2489 (52.43%)

1865 (50.39%)

0.063

  Level 5 pandemic severity

2511 (29.72%)

1473 (31.03%)

1038 (28.05%)

0.003

  1. The differences tests between female and male are based t-test, and p-values are reported
  2. a \( {h}_i^{\ast } \) is the re-scaled predicted linear index of an ordered logit model, ranging from 0 to 1, with a higher value indicating worse SRH
  3. b In the survey, we collected the information on 1) Anhedonia: loss of interest in activities you liked in the past, 2) Sleep problems: difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep, or waking up frequently or early, 3) Anger: got easily irritable or angry, 4) Difficulty concentrating, or 5) Repeated disturbing dreams related to COVID-19. Respondents indicate the frequency of each feeling on a 5-point scale of 1 = not at all, 2 = a little, 3 = some, 4 = a lot, and 5 = extremely. We generate a composite score of mental health by summing the values for all five responses, which yielded a total score between 5 and 25 with higher values indicating higher levels of mental health problems
  4. c The definition of 5-level pandemic severity in the province of residence is detailed in the Additional file 1
Back to article page

International Journal for Equity in Health

ISSN: 1475-9276

Contact us