On 2020 October 6, Zhang Quan, the undergraduate student from the major of Medical English, published research article “Frailty as a predictor of future falls and disability: a four-year follow-up study of Chinese older adults” as the first author on BMC Geriatrics (SSCI, IF 3.077). The corresponding author of this article is Dr. Zhao Xinyi, lecturer from the Department of Medical Ethics and Law, Peking University School of Health Humanities. This research is supported by Dr. Zhao’s Youth Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. This research used data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) to analyze the association between frailty and future falls and disability among community-dwelling Chinese older adults. The research found that frail participants were at increased risk at follow-up for falls, developing new ADL difficulties and IADL difficulties, and worsening ADLs performance, after adjusting for potential confounders. In recent years, frailty, which can reflect the health status of older adults from the physical, functional and mental perspectives, has drawn increasing research interest in gerontology. As China has the largest aging population, understanding the relationship between frailty and adverse outcomes among Chinese elder adults has implications for future health and social care planning. The research findings implied that in an effort to prevent the occurrence of adverse outcomes, such as fall and declines in function, effective measures such as physical exercise and nutritional intervention should be undertaken to improve elder individuals’ frailty status and slow the progression of their frailty.

In the training of undergraduate students, the School of Health Humanities (SHH) is committed to developing characteristics of “Medical Humanity” and “Multidisciplinary Personalized Development”. With the study of basic language courses and skill courses like Medical Terminology, Reading of Medical Literatures, Medical Interpretation and Translation, students accumulate rich knowledge and develop solid competence in English. The general education of medicine and medical humanity courses help students to understand health and its influencing factors from multiple perspectives of society, mentality and law. Besides, SHH especially pays attention to the training of research ability, encouraging students to join research groups and develop research skills. Zhang Quan joined the research group of Dr. Zhao in 2018. With the interdisciplinary background and earnest effort, he learned skills of study design, literature review, data analysis, and academic writing. Before the publication of this article, Zhang Quan also contributed to the study and writing of “Continuous participation in social activities as a protective factor against depressive symptoms among older adults who started high-intensity spousal caregiving: findings from the China health and retirement longitudinal survey” (published in Aging & Mental Health, SSCI) and “The effects of spousal caregiving on older females’ depressive symptoms: A study based on CHARLS (in Chinese)”(published in Chinese Health Service Management).

Original Article:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-020-01798-z

Introduction of Authors

Zhang Quan, the first author

Undergraduate student of Peking University School of Health Humanities, 2015-2020; master student of Peking University National School of Development from 2020.

Zhao Xinyi, the corresponding author

Lecturer from the Department of Medical Ethics and Law, Peking University School of Health Humanities. Research interests: long-term care; medical social work.