Urban rural differential in the risk of chronic diseases in India: Evidence from a large scale sample survey

Background: Extant literature is full of studies on urban rural differential in maternal and child health in India. But studies on urban rural differential in risk of chronic diseases are limited. Earlier studies examining... [ view full abstract ]

Background: Extant literature is full of studies on urban rural differential in maternal and child health in India. But studies on urban rural differential in risk of chronic diseases are limited. Earlier studies examining urban rural differential in risk of chronic diseases were based on small area. None of the studies were based on nationally representative sample survey.
Objective: Data from India Human Development Survey (IHDS) conducted in 2004-05 has been used to test the hypotheses: risk of chronic diseases is equally prevalent in urban and rural areas.
Methods: The present study had measured six outcome variables namely occurrence of TB, mental illness, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. Bivariate and multivariate techniques were used for analysis.
Results: Findings of the study rejected the hypotheses. There are enormous urban rural differential in risk of chronic diseases. Diseases like tuberculosis, cancer and mental illness are more prevalent in rural areas, while lifestyle diseases namely diabetes and hypertension have notably high prevalence in urban areas. Findings clearly indicating that there are two type of disease, disease of rural area and disease of urban area. Urban India is suffering from diabetes and hypertension because of sick lifestyle.