Chronic illnesses in rural and remote Queensland communities using two sample units

The objective of this study is to report the prevalence rates of chronic diseases using two sampling units: (a) the rural and remote areas of the Queensland Fitzroy and Central West Statistical Divisions and (b) four rural communities within the Queensland Fitzroy Statistical Division. The design was a cross-sectional survey. The setting was rural and remote Queensland. The first sample unit was 641 households stratified and randomly selected from a commercial electronic database of 36,423 telephone numbers. Of these 641 households, 270 agreed to take part. One respondent from each household provided information, including chronic illnesses, for all 697 household members. The second sample unit was all 356 households in four small rural communities. Of these, 223 agreed to provide information regarding 594 household members. The main outcome measures were the age and gender distribution of two sample groups and the prevalence rates of chronic illnesses. The people of the first sample unit had a significantly lower proportion of university or college graduates compared with the people in the second sample unit. There was a lower prevalence rate of asthma among people in the first unit than the rate reported by people in the second unit.