Nonmetro populations have higher rates of chronic disease

A bar chart showing nonmetro adults that engage in behaviours that impair health and to have chronic diseases in 2006.

The 2006 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, asked adults about the incidence of chronic disease, along with various health risk factors. Adults in nonmetro households reported higher rates of hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and stroke than adults in households in large metro areas (more than 1 million residents). Risky individual behaviors such as smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, and alcohol use compromise health. Higher shares of adults in nonmetro households were current smokers, obese, or inactive, according to the 2006 NHIS, but nonmetro adults had a lower rate of regular use of alcohol. This chart appeared in the June 2010 issue of Amber Waves magazine.

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