2021 Survey Dataset of Free Cancer Screening for Community Elderly in Jiangsu Province (N=1503)cancer checkup Jiangsu

This dataset contains survey data of free cancer screening physical examinations for retired elderly residents aged 60-70 in communities of Jiangsu Province in 2021, with a total sample size of 1503. It is exclusively constructed for the empirical research of the dataset contributors, and can only be used for the validation of the research results of the corresponding paper. The core research hypotheses are as follows: the free cancer screening policy for the elderly aged 65 and above will lead to a significant positive discontinuity in medical expenditures at the policy threshold; the policy effect has temporal heterogeneity, namely a short-term surge in medical expenditures and a long-term cost suppression effect; meanwhile, the policy effect shows significant differences among the elderly groups with different genders and different regional economic levels.
The dataset comprehensively includes the demographic characteristics (age, gender, residential area), socioeconomic attributes (pension level, living status, commercial medical insurance participation), health-related indicators (chronic disease status, self-rated health, cancer screening awareness and frequency of health information attention) and the core outcome indicator (annual medical expenditure) of the research subjects. All data were jointly collected by the Jiangsu Social Insurance Association and the Institute of Elderly Security of Hohai University, with research subjects selected via a multi-stage cluster random sampling method. The data were cross-validated with provincial health records and de-identified, with an overall error rate of less than 1%, featuring a standardized structure, clear definition and unified assignment of all indicators.
This dataset can be used to verify the causal effect of the free cancer screening public health policy on the medical expenditures of the elderly population, and to explore the temporal and group heterogeneity of the policy effect, as well as the mediating role of health information attention behavior in the medical consumption behavior of the elderly. Data interpretation should be combined with the background of China's public health policies and population aging, and carried out based on empirical methods such as regression discontinuity design, subgroup regression and mechanism analysis. The specific coding and assignment rules of each indicator can be referred to the appendix of the relevant research paper by the dataset contributors.

本数据集收录了2021年江苏省社区内60至70岁退休老年居民免费癌症筛查体检的调研数据，总样本量为1503份。本数据集仅为数据集共建方的实证研究构建，仅可用于对应研究论文成果的验证工作。本数据集对应的核心研究假设如下：针对65岁及以上老年群体的免费癌症筛查政策，将在政策阈值处引发医疗支出呈现显著的正向断点效应；该政策效应具有时间异质性，即短期会推高医疗支出，长期则呈现成本抑制效果；同时，政策效应在不同性别、不同区域经济水平的老年群体间存在显著差异。

本数据集全面涵盖了研究对象的人口统计学特征（年龄、性别、居住区域）、社会经济属性（养老金水平、居住状况、商业医疗保险参保情况）、健康相关指标（慢性病患病状态、自评健康状况、癌症筛查认知水平及健康信息关注频率），以及核心结局指标（年度医疗支出）。所有数据由江苏省社会保险协会与河海大学老年保障研究所联合采集，研究对象通过多阶段整群随机抽样法（multi-stage cluster random sampling）选取。数据已与省级卫生档案完成交叉验证并完成去标识化处理，整体误差率低于1%，且所有指标均具备标准化结构、清晰定义与统一赋值规则。

本数据集可用于验证老年人群免费癌症筛查公共卫生政策对医疗支出的因果效应，探索政策效应的时间与群体异质性，以及健康信息关注行为在老年群体医疗消费行为中的中介作用。数据分析需结合中国公共卫生政策与人口老龄化背景，并基于断点回归设计（regression discontinuity design）、分组回归、机制分析等实证方法开展。各指标的具体编码与赋值规则可参考数据集共建方相关研究论文的附录内容。