Examining variations in health within rural Canada

Abstract

It was observed that heterogeneity in health among rural areas is substantial, and generally larger than the effect of rurality, itself, on health. More attention is needed to understand the characteristics of Canada's heterogeneous rural communities, and the different processes by which disparities in health emerge and persist. The findings suggest that a focus on rurality alone, emphasizing urban versus rural disparities, or even continuum-based approaches like MIZ, may be less informative than finding ways to classify and examine different types of rural areas according to factors relevant to health.