City dwellers worse health
September 28, 2012
CHRONIC diseases are more
prevalent in city dwellers than in
their rural counterparts, according
to a new study by researchers at
the University of Sydney.
Published in the Australasian
Journal of Ageing, the study,
undertaken by academics from the
University’s Faculty of Health
Sciences, looked at seven years of
longitudinal data for 1,256 over-45s
who had lived in the same area for
at least 20 years.
According to the study’s findings,
people living in urban areas had
greater odds of suffering from a
non-infectious chronic disease than
people in rural and remote areas.
In addition, researchers found
that every year of age increased the
odds of having a long-term health
condition by 1.05, or five percent
compared with the previous year,
while living in the lowest
socioeconomic area increased the
odds of having a long-term health
condition by 90% compared with
the previous year.
“In the city you’re exposed to a
range of environmental stressors,
such as poor air quality, aircraft and
road noise, high density housing,
lack of adequate transport, poor
urban design, a lack of green
spaces and shade trees, and so on,”
said lead author Professor Deborah
Black, from the University’s Ageing,
Work and Health Research Unit.
“As people get older, their bodies
are less able to cope physiologically
with environmental stressors, and
exposure can accelerate the ageing
process and trigger or exacerbate
disease,” she added.
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