Based on the data of national sampling survey on health status of children from distressed families in China, this study explores the differences in child health caused by distressed environmental factors and its relative contribution. The article uses the Shapley value decomposition method to analyze the vulnerabilities and key areas of healthy development of distressed family children. The results suggest that the growth retardation rate and the proportion of insomnia and loneliness of children is higher in distressed families than in ordinary families; children in distressed families are more vulnerable to injury and bullying in school, and the children in incarcerated families are the most likely to be hurt. Family relationship is the most important factor affecting health of children in distressed families. The influence of guardian quality and family economic environment on the health of children in ordinary families is higher than that in distressed families, and the health status of guardians has the greatest contribution to the self-rated health of children in ordinary families.

This paper examines patterns and trends in health inequality of the Chinese elderly over 1998－2008 using data from Chinese Longevity Health Longitudinal Survey with techniques for spatial analysis．While health status of the Chinese elderly was improving steadily，widening inequality was observed，which
was more serious in rural than in urban areas． There are significant differences in health status of the elderly across the provinces of China． Health status of older people was the best in the eastern region，better in the central region，and worst in the western region． The rural old，female old，oldest old，and older people without spouse had significantly poorer health than their counterparts． More attention and policy support need to be given to those "multiple vulnerable" groups，in order to improve their health status and health inequality．