Health Status and Health Care Access of Farm and Rural Populations

This article explored the differences of "metro and non-metro" (city and rural) and "farmer and non-farmer" households in terms of their health status and access to adequate healthcare.  The findings were pretty typical, the rural areas having less access to health care (though it does seem that the health care they do have access to is about on par with metro area healthcare in terms of service.) and the non-farmer households within nonmetro areas are more at risk for things like obesity and adopt more risky behaviors such as smoking.

We generally see the same patterns in nonmetro areas as we see in metro areas, including the one I'm from (Durham, NC). While farmer households have more work-related injuries, they're more likely to be higher educated and as a result, have higher qualities of life as opposed to the nonfarmer households. We see the same trends in the metro areas, where professionals and highly educated individuals live higher qualities of life due to their better access to medical care.

What does worry me slightly about the research is the way they obtained their data. While they'd be hard-pressed to find any other way but survey to obtain this information, it becomes automatically objective. People are often reluctant to admit that they are not as healthy as they would like to be and when you survey people, you are automatically open to their biases and hinderances.

That being said, the study does seem to correlate with everything we see and hear on a regular basis regarding health in relation to social status.