This report, Urban-Rural Health Comparisons: Key results of the 2002/03 New Zealand Health Survey, compares the health status of New Zealand adults living in urban and rural areas.
In particular, this report compares the following aspects of health for urban and rural dwellers:
- prevalence of selected chronic diseases
- prevalence of risk and protective factors
- the use of health services
- self-reported health status.
The report examines differences between population subgroups, defined by type of urban/rural area, sex and socioeconomic deprivation.
Purpose
The aims of the 2002/03 NZHS were to measure the:
- health status of New Zealand adults, including their self-reported physical and mental health status, and the prevalence of selected health conditions
- prevalence of risk and protective factors associated with these health conditions
- use of health services, including barriers to accessing health services.
The aims of this report were to compare these measures between adult New Zealanders living in urban and rural areas, and to examine differences between sub-groups of these populations (as defined by sex, type of rural or urban area and the New Zealand Index of Deprivation 2001).
Comparisons between males and females, and between age groups and ethnic groups, are not included in this report because they were covered in detail in A Portrait of Health (Ministry of Health 2004).