Should You Move to Town or the Suburbs?

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research is one of the leading US health policy research centers, and it’s the main source of health policy information for California.  Using data obtained from its 2007 California Health Interview Survey (CHRIS 2007), the Center has just issued a report on the health status and health challenges of rural seniors in California.  Here are some of the main points.

• Almost one-fifth of all older Californians live in the countryside.  Their environment presents problems to healthy living – a lack of sidewalks, no street lights, poor transport services, and poor access to healthy food outlets, exercise facilities, and healthcare centers.  There also fewer physicians and other primary care providers.
• People over 65 living in the country are more often overweight or obese (61%) than their urban (57%) or suburban (54%) counterparts.
• More rural seniors are sedentary (22%) than urban (20%) or suburban (18%) dwellers.
• “Food insecurity” (ability to consistently afford enough food to last a month) is reported by 19% rural, 23% urban, and 11% suburban over-65 dwellers.
• Older adults living in the country are more likely to have heart disease (25%) than their urban (23%) or suburban (21%) counterparts.
• Diabetes is more common in country-dwelling seniors and urban seniors (18.5% and 19.4%, respectively) than in suburban seniors (16.1%).
•  Country-living seniors are more likely to report falls (16%) than urban (15%) or suburban (13%) seniors.

The report goes on to make some recommendations to make the rural environment more senior-friendly: e.g. senior walkways with better lighting and benches, transport solutions, and more use of in-home monitoring.

It seems to me there’s a need to make urban living more senior-friendly as well.  “Aging in place” is an important concept, and my title to this blog is clearly the wrong answer – one must address the problems of the environment – be it rural or urban – to bring equal health opportunities to everyone.