Residential location and nutritional adequacy among elderly adults

Factors affecting nutritional adequacy of elderly persons in urban, suburban, and rural areas were assessed in an analysis of data from the first Health and Nutritional Examination Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. The specific purpose of this study was to determine whether there were residential differences among elderly adults in nutritional adequacy and to assess the predictive importance of any residential differences in relation to other predictive factors of nutritional adequacy. No significant differences in nutritional adequacy between rural and urban elderly adults were found; however, significant nutritional differences were found between the residents of suburban areas and the residents of either urban or rural areas. It was concluded that residential nutritional levels are most likely due to the educational and economic status of the individuals in an area and not to any causal effect of residential location.