title: The health status and unique health challenges of rural older adults in California.
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.
authors.affiliation: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Eva M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Durazo
authors.forename: Melissa R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Steven P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Arsdal
authors.forename: May
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aydin
authors.forename: Connie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002140:California; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D015444:Exercise; D005523:Food Supply; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013383:Suburban Population; D014505:Urban Population