Health status and medical consumption of the elderly in urban and rural areas in The Netherlands; a secondary analysis of CBS-data.

Abstract

Data of the life situation survey of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) of 1982 have been analysed. This secondary analysis has been carried out to study differences in health and medical consumption between urban and rural elderly. Two contrasting groups of elderly have been used: urban and rural elderly. It has been found that there are no differences in the prevalence of chronic disorders. More mental complaints have been found among male urban elderly compared to male rural elderly. The same relationship, although not significant, exists for women. For women it has been found that urban elderly feel less healthy than rural elderly. Male urban elderly aged 55-74 year pay more visits to the general practitioner than rural elderly of the same age. The same holds for women aged 75 year and over who also pay more visits to the physician.