Health ageing in urban and rural Britain: a comparison of exercise and diet

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: to compare exercise levels, and dietary intake of fruit and vegetables in representative samples of healthy elderly people living in rural and urban areas. DESIGN: two-wave (screening followed by face-to-face interview) cross-sectional survey. SETTING: rural Cambridgeshire and urban Nottingham, UK. PARTICIPANTS: 2041 respondents (1021 in Cambridgeshire; 1020 in Nottingham) sampled from general practitioner lists. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: self-rated reports of health, exercise and food frequency. RESULTS: within these samples of healthy elderly people, those living in rural Cambridgeshire were significantly more likely to consume fresh fruit [odds ratio (OR) = 1.81, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.52-2.16, P < 0.001] and green vegetables (OR = 3.70, 95% CI = 3.07-4.45, P < 0.001) daily in both the summer and winter months. While overall levels of activity were similar for both groups, the structure of activities differed, with the urban sample reporting significantly greater time spent walking. CONCLUSIONS: against current World Health Organisation recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption, respondents in rural areas reported a substantially 'healthier' diet than their urban peers. On the other hand, urban elderly people may enjoy greater cardiovascular protection from greater time spent walking.