Citation

Durazo EM, Jones MR, Wallace SP, Van Arsdal J, Aydin M, Stewart C. Policy Brief UCLA Cent. Health Policy Res. 2011; 2011(PB2011-7): 1-8.

Affiliation

UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, University of California at Los Angeles)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

21688692

Abstract

Despite living in the countryside where open space is plentiful and there is often significant agricultural production, rural older adults have higher rates of overweight/obesity, physical inactivity and food insecurity than older adults living in suburban areas. All three conditions are risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and repeated falls. This policy brief examines the health of rural elders and, by contrast, their urban counterparts, and finds that both groups are more likely to be unhealthy than suburban older adults. Yet rural elders, because of their geographical isolation and lack of proximity to health care providers, experience unique environmental and other risk factors that require context-specific solutions to these health issues. In both policies and programs that impact health, policymakers need to take into account the distinctive environmental and social context of older adults living in California's countryside.

Language: en