To understand the health poverty vulnerability of the elderly in rural areas of Sichuan Province in the post-poverty-alleviation era and analyze its main influencing factors.

From July to August 2022, a multi-stage sampling method was used to conduct a questionnaire survey on 601 rural elderly people in Sichuan. The three-stage generalized least-squares method was used to calculate the health poverty vulnerability index of rural elderly people in Sichuan, and the influencing factors of health poverty vulnerability were explored through multivariate logistic regression.

Among the 601 people, 35 were in a state of health poverty vulnerability (health poverty vulnerability index ≥ 0.29),and the health poverty vulnerability rate was 5.82%. There were statistically significant differences in the health poverty vulnerability rates among the elderly with different genders (OR=3.69, 95%CI: 1.28-10.61), educational levels (OR=0.14,95%CI: 0.05-0.35), proportions of out-of-pocket medical expenses to income (OR=49.10, 95%CI: 15.99-150.91), and living types (taking living alone as the reference, living only with a spouse: OR=0.09, 95%CI: 0.03-0.29; living with children: OR=0.15, 95%CI: 0.05-0.44) (P < 0.05).

The overall health poverty vulnerability of rural elderly people in Sichuan Province in the post-poverty-alleviation era is at a relatively low level. Rural elderly women, those with low educational levels, those with a large proportion of out-of-pocket medical expenses to income, and those living alone are at a higher risk of falling into health poverty in the future and need to be given key attention.