A Study of the Effect of Number of Births on the Disability Status of China's Elderly Women

Purpose: Under the background of aging population, the disability of the elderly is more serious, and childbirth affects the health status of elder women. The aim of this paper was to examine the relationship between the number of births and the risk of maternal disability in later life. Methods Based on data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) in 2018, 4,686 elder women were selected as study population. The logistic regression analysis was conducted to estimate the effect of number of children and other fertility behaviours on the risk of disability and to test whether there were urban-rural differences and gender differences. Results A high number of births significantly reduced the risk of disability among elder women. For each additional birth, the odds ratio of maternal disability in later life decreased by 4.3%, especially elder women with fewer than five births. Heterogeneity analysis found that this effect was present in the urban areas, and that an increase in the number of births increased the probability of disability for both fathers and rural mothers, but this result was not significant. Further examination showed that later age at last birth and longer childbearing period both significantly reduced the probability of disability. Conclusions This paper found an association between early fertility behaviour and the risk of disability in later life. We need to promote urbanisation and to have children within the right limits, not too many, and improve relevant supporting measures to ensure the health of female elderly in later year.