Abstract
Climate change poses a significant threat to public health. While existing studies document its detrimental effects, the impact on functional disability and how to mitigate the effects remain underexplored. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) during 2011–2018, this study finds that higher temperatures correlate with higher levels of functional difficulty measured by activities of daily living (ADL) scores among China’s middle-aged and older adults. Subgroup analyses indicate that males and those of greater age experience larger adverse effects. However, individual- and community-level adaptations help mitigate the adverse effects of higher temperatures on ADL difficulty, with access to air conditioning and healthcare facilities serving as key protective factors. These findings underscore the need for targeted climate adaptation policies, including promoting air conditioning accessibility and enhancing community infrastructure, to safeguard the well-being of aging populations facing climate change.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
