Abstract:

Data from the 1984 National Health Interview Survey's Supplement on Aging are used to examine the relationship between health status & health care use among rural elderly. Measures of health status include self-perceived health, functional limitations, & limitations in activities of daily living; health service use is measured by number of doctors' office visits & hospital stays. Logistic regression reveals that rural residence does not have a significant effect on either health status or service use, once various demographic characteristics are controlled, except for lower use of doctors by nonmetropolitan & farm residents. This discrepancy may be due to differences in types of illness, health beliefs, strength of informal care networks, or availability of public & private insurance.