What is already known about this topic? As the largest country in the world, China experienced a demographic transition at a historic scale during the past 50 years with extraordinarily associated changes in the age structure of the population, declining fertility rates, accelerating process of population aging, and growing population scale. What is added by this report? This study presented future trends of five important population indicators in China. From 2015–2050, China experienced outstanding demographic changes — increases in life expectancy and declines in fertility rate — that have led to population aging. In addition, disability prevalence is growing, and life expectancy with disability is also increasing. What are the implications for public health practice? This study provided evidence of healthy life expectancy improvement and disease burden declining, healthy aging, and active aging. Due to the uncertainties of future trends of population structure changes, dynamic evaluations, timely adjustments, and innovations in population health strategy design and management should be strengthened to ensure quality of life under the background of population aging.

This study aimed to reveal the epidemic characteristics of chronic diseases among the Chinese older population and provide empirical strategies for the prevention and management of chronic diseases in the seniors in China. A national cross-sectional study. A total of 224,640 Chinese residents aged 60 and older were invited, and 222,179 (98.9%) participated in our survey. Standardized questionnaires were used to collect socioeconomic information and self-reported physician-diagnosed chronic diseases. The associations between individual socioeconomic status and chronic diseases were estimated using generalized linear mixed-effects models. The national prevalence of any chronic diseases was 81.1% (95% CI 80.9-81.2), representing 179.9 million Chinese older adults. The prevalence increased with aging and peaked at 80 to 84 years old (87.2, 95% CI 86.7-87.7), this is consistent with studies in developing countries. Women (84.2, 84.0-84.4), rural residents (82.6, 82.4-82.8), and ethnic minorities (82.2, 81.5-82.8) had a higher prevalence than men (77.7, 77.4-77.9), urban residents (79.7, 79.5-79.9), and people of Han ethnicity (81.0, 80.8-81.2), respectively. For provincial prevalence, Tibet had the highest prevalence of chronic diseases (91.8, 91.5-92.0), and Fujian had the lowest (72.7, 72.5-72.9). The absolute differences between the highest and lowest provinces for the specific chronic condition ranged from 2.78% for cancer to 36.3% for cardiovascular diseases. Chronic diseases were highly prevalent among older adults in China and varied geographically. Advanced socioeconomic status appeared to have double-edged impacts on the prevalence of chronic diseases. Our findings support that reducing gender and geographic disparities should be prioritized in China's chronic disease prevention and management, and an affordable long-term care services system for older adults should be established urgently in China.

To evaluate changes in the age-adjusted prevalence of disability in transitional China from 1987 to 2006. Data from nationally representative surveys conducted in 1987 and 2006 were used to calculate age-adjusted disability prevalence rates by applying appropriate sample weights and directly adjusting to the age distribution of the 1990 Chinese population. Trends were assessed in terms of average annual percentage change. The estimated number of disabled people in China in 1987 and 2006 was 52.7 and 84.6 million, respectively, corresponding to a weighted prevalence of 4.9% and 6.5%. The age-adjusted prevalence of disability decreased by an average of 0.5% per year (average annual percentage change, AAPC: -0.5%; 95% confidence interval, CI: -0.7 to -0.4) during 1987-2006. However, it increased by an average of 0.3% (AAPC: 0.3%; 95% CI: 0.1 to 0.5) per year in males and by an average of 1.0% (AAPC: 1.0%; 95% CI: 0.8 to 1.2) per year among rural residents, whereas among females it showed an average annual decrease of 1.5% (AAPC: -1.5%; 95% CI: -1.7 to -1.3) and among urban residents, an average annual decrease of 3.9% (AAPC: -3.9%; 95% CI: -4.3 to -3.5). Despite significant declining trends for hearing and speech, intellectual and visual disabilities, the annual age-adjusted prevalence of physical and mental disabilities increased by an average of 11.2% (AAPC: 11.2%; 95% CI: 10.5 to 11.9) and 13.3% (AAPC: 13.3%; 95% CI: 10.7 to 16.2), respectively. In China, the age-adjusted prevalence of disability has declined since 1987, with inconsistencies dependent on the type of disability. These findings call for continuing and specific efforts to prevent disabilities in China.

Background: To determine the effect of higher progesterone (P) level on endometrial receptivity. Methods: This was a prospective analysis conducted in the Reproductive Medical Center of Peking University Third Hospital. All patients received IVF treatment and canceled embryo transfer in the same cycle and were divided into group 1 (normal P; 7 patients) and group 2 (elevated P; 12 patients). Endometrial biopsies were performed 6 days after oocyte retrieval. The global miRNA and mRNA gene expressions in endometrial biopsies were investigated with a V4.0 miRNA probe and 22 K Human Genome Array. Fold ratios were derived to compare gene regulation between the groups. Spp1 and Ang gene expression was selected to verify the array results by RT-PCR and the protein expression of osteopontin and VEGF was determined using an immunohistochemical method. Results: There were 4 miRNA (all down-regulated) and 22 mRNA (13 up-regulated and 9 down-regulated) exhibiting differential expression between the groups on the microRNA and microarray chips. miRNA-451, Spp1, and Ang expression in RT-PCR verified the array results. Osteopontin and VEGF were also shown to have positive expression in the endometrium. Conclusions: Data from microRNA and microarray analysis suggests dissimilar endometrial receptivity in patients with high P levels on the day of hCG, and elevated osteopontin and decreased VEGF had poor pregnancy rates.