Residence differences in the health status of elders

Abstract

Using data from the 1984 Supplement on Aging to the National Health Interview Survey, this study examined residential differences on a selected group of health status measures among persons 65 years of age and older (N = 11,497). Mean values on indicators of health and impairment for each of the residence categories were examined before and after adjusting for distributional differences in background and demographic characteristics which are associated with both health and residence. Three important conclusions emerged from the analysis: (1) health status does not vary with residence in a unitary fashion; (2) the relationship between residence and health status does not appear to fall along a straightforward rural-urban continuum; and (3) there is both diversity in, and a general patterning of, the significant relationships between health and residence with the extremes of health status located in the rural categories.