Low-Income Seniors Have Better Health in Rural Areas

A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests older, low-income Americans in more affluent regions enjoy better health, reports Scope . They also have better physical well-being across the board, with less incidence of many chronic conditions, especially if they reside in rural communities. Stanford University's Maria Polyakova and the University of Pennsylvania's Lynn Hua looked at roughly 6.4 million Medicare beneficiaries in 2015 aged 66 to 100, who received low-income support under Medicare Part D. They explored the prevalence of 48 chronic conditions among these subjects, including common conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and Alzheimer's. Locations where the poor tend to have a high prevalence of one disease or ailment were likely to have a high prevalence of all 48 conditions. "There is a general sense that differences in the social fabric and lifestyle in rural areas . . . could contribute to this pattern," Polyakova notes. "It appears that better health in affluent, rural areas persists, despite challenges of accessing formal care."