Document Type
Honors Thesis
Abstract
There is limited information about how social determinants of health relate to mortality rates in rural and urban areas. The purpose of this study was to determine ruralurban differences in, and correlations between, county-level mortality and social determinants of health variables (i.e., income, number of hospitals, being with or without insurance). The design was secondary, cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlational. There are 82 urban and 172 rural Texas counties. Mean county-level mortality rate was significantly higher in rural counties (M=108, SD=36.4 per 10,000 population) compared to urban (M=90.9, SD=25.6). In rural counties, uninsured rates were higher, insured rates were lower, and median income was lower. For urban counties, there was a moderate, negative, statistically significant correlation between health insurance and mortality rates. There were not significant correlations between social determinants of health and mortality in the expected direction for rural counties. Future studies are needed to establish what may explain rural-urban mortality disparity.
Publication Date
8-1-2022
Language
English
Faculty Mentor of Honors Project
Jessica Smith
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Ingram, Jacob, "EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RURAL HEALTH DISPARITIES AND INCOME, MORTALITY, INSURANCE AND HOSPITAL ACCESS" (2022). 2022 Spring Honors Capstone Projects. 13.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/honors_spring2022/13