BACKGROUND In England, although some studies report better health among rural populations, few have examined social inequalities in health within rural areas and how they compare to inequalities observed in urban settings. The objectives of this study are to examine (i) whether living in rural, in more affluent and in more socially cohesive areas is associated with better mental health; and (ii...

BACKGROUND Studies on rural-urban differences in dental care have primarily focused on differences in utilization rates and preventive dental services. Little is known about rural-urban differences in the use of wider range of dental procedures. This study examined patterns of preventive, restorative, endodontic, and extraction procedures provided to children enrolled in Delta Dental of Wiscons...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to compare the quality of diabetes care provided to American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) by urban and rural Indian health programs. DESIGN Medical record review data collected by the Indian Health Service as part of the Diabetes Care and Outcomes Audit in 2002. SETTING Seventeen urban Indian health clinics and 225 rural Indian health programs. PA...

BACKGROUND China has experienced a rapid increase in hypertension over the past decade, especially in rural. Therefore, the aim of this research is to examine the dynamic trends in urban-rural disparities in hypertension prevalence, detection, and medication use among Chinese adults from 1993 to 2011. METHODS Data were extracted from the seven latest waves of the China Health and Nutrition Su...

INTRODUCTION Previous research has reported rural-urban differences in health concerns and access issues. However, very little of this has concerned young people, and what has been published has been mainly from countries other than Australia and may not generalise to Australian youth. The study described in this paper is a subset of a larger study on health concerns and access to healthcare fo...

OBJECTIVES This report details the National Center for Health Statistics' (NCHS) development of the 2006 NCHS Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for Counties and provides some examples of how the scheme can be used to describe differences in health measures by urbanization level. METHODS The 2006 NCHS urban-rural classification scheme classifies all U.S. counties and county-equivalents into si...

Background: Evaluation of the impacts cutaneous of leishmaniasis (CL) on the patients, their family and government are necessary. Unfortunately these evaluations have not been done. Objective: Due to increased incidence of CL in Isfahan province especially in rural areas, this study was done to assess the expenses of this disease in Isfahan in 1999. Patients and Methods: 196 patients were selec...

OBJECTIVE Little is known about availability of resources for managing intimate partner violence (IPV) at rural hospitals. We assessed differences in availability of resources for IPV screening and management between rural and urban emergency departments (EDs) in Oregon. METHODS We conducted a standardized telephone interview of Oregon ED directors and nurse managers on six IPV-related resour...

OBJECTIVES This study sought to define contemporary trends in permanent pacemaker use by analyzing a large national database. BACKGROUND The Medicare National Coverage Determination for permanent pacemaker, which emphasized single-chamber pacing, has not changed significantly since 1985. We sought to define contemporary trends in permanent pacemaker use by analyzing a large national database....