Rural Men Research Articles

Prevalence and potential determinants of chronic disease among elderly in India: Rural-urban perspectives.

Chronic diseases are the leading causes of disability and premature death among the elderly population in India. The study, using data from the 75th round of the NSSO survey (N = 44,631), examined the prevalence and determinants of chronic diseases among the population aged 60+ in India by applying bivariate and logistic regression analyses and used a non-linear decomposition technique to understand the urban-rural differences in the prevalence of chronic diseases. About 21% of the elderly in India reportedly have at least one chronic disease. Seventeen percent elderly in rural areas and 29% in urban areas suffer from a chronic disease. Hypertension and diabetes account for about 68% of all chronic diseases. The prevalence of chronic diseases is the highest in Kerala (54%), followed by Andhra Pradesh (43), West Bengal (36), and Goa (32). Those with higher levels of education, staying in urban areas, those who are economically dependent on others, staying alone or without spouse and children, and belonging to wealthy households have a higher likelihood of having a chronic disease. The probability of having a chronic disease is 1.15 times higher among urban residents as compared to their rural counterparts. Elderly rural women, compared to elderly rural men, and never-married, widowed, and divorced elderly urban women, compared to married elderly urban men, are significantly more likely to suffer from chronic ailments. Differences in education, wealth status, and caste are the three most significant contributors to the urban-rural gap in chronic diseases. The high risk of chronic diseases among certain subsets of the elderly population must be recognized as a key public health concern. The findings of our study will likely help promote healthy ageing in India.

Effects of population aging on the mortality burden of related cancers in urban and rural areas of China, 2004-2017: a population-based study.

Objective:China is a developing country with urban–rural disparities and accelerating population aging. Therefore, quantifying the effects of population aging on the cancer mortality burden is urgently needed.Methods:Using data from China’s death surveillance datasets (2004–2017), we decomposed and quantified the effects of population aging and factor variations on cancer mortality rates in urban and rural China during 2004–2017 through a decomposition method. R ratios were used to assess the extent of the mortality decreases attributable to factor variations offsetting the increases attributable to population aging for 4 aging-related cancers (lung, colorectal, esophageal, and stomach cancer).Results:Overall, population aging has led to continued increases in cancer mortality rates in China during 2004–2017 (mortality rates attributable to population aging: 8.63/100,000 for urban men, 4.21/100,000 for urban women, 11.95/100,000 for rural men, and 5.66/100,000 for rural women). The 4 cancers displayed 3 patterns. The mortality rates from lung cancer in rural China and from colorectal cancer nationwide increased because of both population aging and factor variations. Population aging was primarily responsible for the growing mortality due to lung cancer in urban areas. However, for esophageal and stomach cancer, the effect of population aging was not dominant, thus resulting in decreases in mortality rates.Conclusions:Health resource allocation should prioritize areas or cancers more adversely affected by population aging. The burden of cancer will continue to increase in the future, because of rapid population aging, but can still be offset or even reversed with enhanced cancer control and prevention.

Weight Gain and Change in Body Mass Index after Age 20 in the Brazilian Population and Associated Sociodemographic Factors: Data from the National Health Survey.

Obesity is considered one of the main contemporary public health problems. We aim to assess changes in body weight and nutritional status in adulthood and the associated sociodemographic variables. We use data from the 2013 National Health Survey (n = 21,743). Changes in weight and body mass index (BMI) were calculated based on mean difference between measurements at age 20 and data collected at the interview, stratified by sex. The association was analyzed using linear regression. Mean weight gain was greater among women than men. The largest gain was verified among the younger adults for both sexes. Age was found to be associated with weight and BMI change in men and women where, for every additional year of age, there was an increase in weight and BMI of 0.10 kg and 0.04 kg/m2 in men and of 0.22 kg and 0.09 kg/m2 in women, respectively. For education, a direct association was found for men and an inverse for women. Association with area of residence was significant among males only, where rural men gained less than their urban counterparts. Weight gain was progressive, being more marked in the younger group, and was associated with education differently according to sex.

Modern ideas about the role of the hypothalamus in the implementation of adaptation programs under stressor loads (references)

The starting point for the prevention of human disease is the study of the vital functions of a healthy organism, taking into account complex effects of external and internal factors. More often in clinical practice, doctors observe patients with advanced pathology, when the body has undergone significant changes, including at the level of systemic regulation (CNS, hypothalamus) and at the level of intercellular signaling and neuro-immune-endocrine interactions. Therefore, the basis of these changes, more often, are insignificant but permanent factors of the external or internal environment, which gradually accumulate and disrupt the functioning of central regulatory systems. The aim of our study was to analyze modern sources of information that highlight current issues of the role of the hypothalamus in the development of adaptation programs during the formation of stressors. Materials and methods: analysis of scientific publications taken from Google Scholar databases, Web of Science, Pub Med by keywords: rats, stress reactions, adaptation, neuroendocrine regulation, neurotransmitters, hypothalamus, supraoptic nucleus, paraventricular nucleus. Conclusions: Thus, the analysis of scientific sources demonstrated that the main stress studies were devoted to determining the state and role of dominant systems, but there were few facts that had explained the long-term changes of the hypothalamus in regulatory systems. These issues remain unresolved and need to be studied.
 Introduction. Today, many facts and clinical observations about the complex effects of chronic stress of human body. The National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Veterans Health Administration conducted a large-scale cohort study that had provided evidence of an association between post-traumatic stress disorder and cardiovascular risk, had identified mechanisms that could cause this association, and had assessed prognostic risk, cardiovascular diseases [1]. Moreover, they form a post-stress syndrome, which by itself becomes a pathogenetic mechanism of disease formation.
 Rebeca Robles-García together with other researchers in 2020 demonstrated that high urbanization could increase the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder due to the concentration of poverty, limited living space, substance use and crime. Women tend to be more disadvantaged socially and economically and are more likely to be victims of collective and domestic violence than men. Accordingly, urban women are more prone to traumatic events that increase the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder than rural women and men in both rural and urban areas, especially those without social and family protection and support [2]. That is, even minor and indistinct stressors that act constantly and can not be overcome by man become an important etiological factor in the formation of a number of diseases.

Ageing Perception as a Key Predictor of Self-Rated Health by Rural Older People—A Study with Gender and Inclusive Perspectives

This paper investigates positive perceptions of ageing in rural people aged 65 and over as a key predictor of the self-assessment of one’s health. Method: The sample covers a total of 3389 people from the ‘Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement’ (SHARE), wave 6 (W6, 2015). This research analyses men and women who live in a rural environment. A linear regression model is proposed to consider the dependent variable ‘self-rated health’ and independent variables based on measures of quality of life in older adults. This study confirms that rural women perceive their health on the basis of factors different to those of their male contemporaries. The variable ‘How often do you feel/think that you can do the things that you want to do?’ is associated with women’s self-perceived health. In men, a high relationship (with p < 0.001) is obtained for the variables ‘How often do you feel/think look back on your life with a sense of happiness?’ and ‘How often do you feel/think that family responsibilities prevent you from doing what you want to do?’ Certain daily activities (e.g., leisure or care), along with a positive perception of life, influence one’s perceptions of one’s own health, especially in the case of women. In sum, rural older women make a positive evaluation of their own health and ageing, while rural older men relate self-rated health to passivity and reminiscing. There is a need for further research on psycho-social and socio-spatial issues from an intergenerational, technological and gender perspective for rural and territorial influences to attain better health and quality of life for rural older people in comparison to urban people.

Research Brief: Assessing Readiness for Barbershop-Based HIV Prevention Programs Among Rural African American Barbershop Patrons.

African American men are at a greater risk for contracting HIV infection, and geography may play an important role in the spread of the virus. This study aimed to quantitatively assess the readiness of rural African American men to participate in a barbershop-based HIV prevention program. A paper-and-pencil survey was administered to rural African American male barbershop attendees to assess their readiness for barbershop-based HIV prevention programs. The results suggested that participants were amenable to this form of programming in the barbershop setting. There was no significance detected by demographic variables in readiness for barbershop-based HIV prevention programs. The results of the study give health education specialists and other public health practitioners insight into ways to effectively research, communicate to, and develop culturally appropriate programming for this priority population in a setting in which they are more likely to frequent.

Relative Economic Position and Female Marriage Migration: Marrying Men in Taiwan across Borders and Boundaries.

In recent decades, Taiwan's cross-border marriages, often involving less educated and rural men, raised concerns regarding these couples' disadvantaged position and how the wives, mostly from mainland China and Southeast Asia, fared and integrated. Using data from the surveys of female marriage migrants from outside Taiwan in 2003, 2008, and 2013, along with comparable data among recently married women in Taiwan, we compare educational assortative mating among marriages between men in Taiwan and women in Taiwan, mainland China, Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong and Macau. The findings from log-linear models reveal that, over a period of fifteen years, less educated Taiwanese men have become much less likely to form cross-border marriages with women from mainland China and, to a lesser degree, Southeast Asia. We argue that against the backdrop of rapid economic development in mainland China and Southeast Asia, the advantage in spatial hypergamy for less educated Taiwanese men has declined markedly. Female migrants married in recent years are more likely to marry Taiwanese men with higher levels of education than those married in earlier years. Lack of marriage prospects among less educated men in Taiwan may become another social problem.

Оценка адаптации населения регионов России к цифровым технологиям

Currently, digitalisation of public life is one of the most important external challenges that requires active adaptation of the population to new realities. Russia has been quite successfully implementing digital technologies, ranking in the middle of various world ratings. However, Russian regions significantly differ in terms of the population adaptation to digital technologies. We hypothesise that adaptation speed depends on demographic characteristics of the regional population. In this regard, the paper aims to develop a methodology and tools for assessing the adaptation of the population of Russian regions to digital technologies. The study employs data of a sample observation on the state of the information society in 2014–2020 obtained from the Federal State Statistics Service. Methods of statistical, cartographic, factor and regression analysis, as well as the econometric estimates conducted in the R software environment were used. Constructed econometric models show that gender and place of residence (urban or rural settlement) are the most important adaptation factors in Russian regions. In particular, urban women more actively use the Internet for shopping, while urban women and rural men use it to receive public services. Active acquisition of digital competencies by the population reduces the importance of some barrier factors (restrictions), such as the cost of connection (Internet connection becomes a basic need) and the lack of skills. While the identified effects differ in magnitude, they are significant for almost all Russian regions. The developed research methodology can be applied in future studies to analyse other aspects of social and economic adaptation of the regional population to current challenges. The findings can be used for justifying and implementing the public policy measures, in particular, the national project “Digital Economy”.

Digital geography-rural literacy and internet usage among rural men and women in india via national family health survey-5 (2019–2021)

NFHS-5 survey for the first time includes the study of internet usage in India. Since the digital has altered all possible ways of human life with the internet as its fulcrum, its analysis in various forms is contemporary and relevant. But, geographical studies are less observed and studies on rural areas are further limited in nature. The current attempt is an analysis of the geographic distribution of internet services usage in India on the basis of gender and literacy in the rural scenario. It further diversifies theanalysis in these units through the Empowered Action Group (EAG) states and Non Empowered Action Group (Non-EAG) states and Union Territories classification of the Census of India. An all-India examination is insightful in examining the trends in digital geographies in the rural landscape of the country. The 2019–21 period of National Family Health Survey-5(NFHS-5) data makes the study contemporary as well as relevant.

Urban-rural disparities in blood pressure and lifestyle risk factors of hypertension among Indian individuals.

This study aims to assess the urban-rural difference in prevalence of hypertension (HT) and to explore the disparities in lifestyle risk factors of HT among urban and rural individuals aged 15-49 years in India. The cross-sectional data collected as a part of the fourth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) was analysed in this observational study. NFHS-4 was conducted between January 2015 and December 2016 amongst men aged 15-54 years and women aged 15-49 years. In order to maintain uniformity, age group of 15-49 years was considered. Descriptive analyses were performed for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. Binary logistic regression was conducted to assess the predictors of HT in men and women in urban and rural settings. The presence of HT was considered as the outcome variable. The overall age adjusted prevalence of HT was 17.2% and was greater in urban (18.3%) than in rural population (15.5%). The age adjusted prevalence was also higher in males (18.2%) as compared to females (16.1%). Age and wealth were associated with HT in both urban and rural population. Education and dietary habits played a role in all except rural men. Alcohol consumption, diabetic status and marital status were significantly associated with HT in both urban and rural women. Occupation was associated with HT only in urban women. The study has shown higher HT prevalence in urban areas despite higher prevalence of lifestyle risk factors in rural settings. This calls for more robust screening and health education in the entire population, especially in rural areas.

Association between Low Back Pain and Work and Lifestyle Variables among Fruit Farm Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study

HighlightsLow back pain has a high prevalence among fruit farm workers.Fruit packing workers are more likely to have low back pain than field workers.Abstract. The objective of this observational and correlational cross-sectional study was to analyze the association of labor variables, lifestyle, and low back pain among workers on a grape farm in the northeast region of Brazil. A total of 180 rural workers, men and women, age 18 years and older, and active on the company’s staff, participated in the study. The presence of low back pain, considered as a dependent variable, was categorized as yes or no, and the independent variables were personal, work, and lifestyle factors. The workers performed functions in the field (72%) and fruit packing (28%). Low back pain was reported by 44.1% (n = 79) of the participants. There were associations between low back pain and the function performed by the worker. Thus, workers in fruit packing were 1.53 more likely to have low back pain (95% CI 1.09-2.15) when compared with workers in the field, demonstrating the need for strategies to improve the structure of the workday, such as the inclusion of active breaks. Keywords: Low back pain, Musculoskeletal discomfort, Occupational health.

The Influence Mechanism of Education on Health from the Sustainable Development Perspective.

Good health and quality education are two important goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More and more people pay attention to physical and mental health in a pandemic age. Previous studies have paid more attention to the relationship between socioeconomic status and health, and also scholars at home and abroad have not reached a consistent conclusion on how education affects health. In this study, we try to explore the relationship between education and health from the sustainable development perspective and its internal influence mechanism through the data of China General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2015 and 2017, according to Grossman's health demand model. The results indicated that from the junior high school education, physical health improved with the increase of the education level, but this effect was gradually weakened. The relationship between education and mental health is not a simple linear relationship but an inverted U-shaped change. After 16 years of education, mental health gradually decreases. Compared with women and rural population, men and urban population have better health. Education leads to labor market segmentation, which makes people with different education levels in different social structure positions, resulting in differentiation of lifestyles, psychology, and social interaction, and this ultimately leads to health inequality. Education indirectly improves people's health by changing healthy behaviors, cultivating healthy psychology, and strengthening social interactions.

Caring masculinity as caring capital in the field of marriage: Chinese rural migrant men’s engagement with digital dating

ABSTRACT The concept of hegemonic masculinity has been used in Chinese sociology since the early-2020s to explain Chinese wealthy men’s power over women in the market reform era. Scholars have also paid attention to the ways in which rural, working-class men achieve a sense of manhood, but the links between digital media and gender theory have often not been explored. To fill in this gap, this article examines the ways in which Chinese rural migrant heterosexual men sophisticatedly employ digital technology and gain advantages in the highly competitive field of marriage, translating savvy digital media usage into cultural capital. Research findings drawing upon our long-term ethnography offer substantial evidence of a relationship between men’s active use of digital technology, caring practices, and the desirability of rural migrant men. As such, we develop the concept of caring capital in relation to men’s ability to: master romantic online courting manners, display caring behaviors during follow-up offline courtship, and please their (future) parents-in-law. Research limitations are discussed.

The association between an energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index and inflammation in rural and urban Black South Africans.

To quantify the inflammatory potential of the diet of rural and urban Black South Africans using an adapted energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (AE-DII) and to investigate its relationship with inflammatory and cardio-metabolic disease risk markers. Dietary inflammatory potential has not been investigated in African populations. Cross-sectional investigation. Rural and urban sites in the North West province of South Africa. 1885 randomly selected, apparently healthy Black South Africans older than 30 years. AE-DII scores ranged from -3·71 to +5·08 with a mean of +0·37. AE-DII scores were significantly higher in men (0·47 ± 1·19) than in women (0·32 ± 1·29), and in rural (0·55 ± 1·29) than urban participants (0·21 ± 1·19). Apart from its dietary constituents, AE-DII scores are primarily associated with age, rural-urban status and education. Contrary to the literature, alcohol consumption was positively associated with AE-DII scores. Of the four tested inflammatory and thirteen cardio-metabolic biomarkers, the AE-DII was only significantly negatively associated with albumin and HDL cholesterol, and positively with waist circumference and fasting glucose, upon full adjustment. Rural men consumed the most pro-inflammatory diet, and urban women the least pro-inflammatory diet. The diet of the participants was not overtly pro- or anti-inflammatory and was not associated with measured inflammatory markers. The inflammatory potential of alcohol at different levels of intake requires further research. Understanding dietary inflammatory potential in the context of food insecurity, unhealthy lifestyle practices and lack of dietary variety remains limited.

The Great Migration and the Urban-Rural Divide: Lonely Life Expectancy in China

After decades of below replacement fertility, China is now experiencing rapid population aging and the lives of the growing older population are being shaped by massive social and economic change. Of particular importance, is the large-scale migration of working-age adults from rural areas to large cities in search of job opportunities. The departure of migrants from their rural hometowns has resulted in a large population of left-behind older men and women. This distinctively Chinese demographic phenomenon has spurred scholarly interest in the emotional well-being of this older left-behind population, but careful demographic description of aging, migration, grandparenting, and loneliness has yet to be conducted. We bridge this gap by describing the average remaining life spent lonely by older men and women in China. We use Sullivan’s method to calculate lonely life expectancy by urban/rural residence and by the migration status of adult children (as proxied by the presence or absence of coresiding children). We use data from the Harmonized version of the Chinese Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study and focus the analysis on adults aged 55-100. Preliminary results show that, at age 55, women on average spend 9% more of remaining life lonely than men and that rural men and women spend more of their remaining life lonely than their urban counterparts. We will extend these life table analyses by conducting multivariate analyses of the correlates of loneliness in urban and rural China to better understand the role of migration and grandparenting responsibilities.

Decadence and relational freedom among China's gay migrants: Subverting heteronormativity by ‘lying flat’

Departing from the prevailing, individualist perspective of freedom, emphasizing individuals’ independence and the maximization of self-interest via unconstrained decision-making, this article applies the concepts of practised freedom and relational autonomy to explore the lived experience of Chinese rural-to-urban migrant gay men. Drawing on our ethnographic fieldwork in the ‘urban villages’ (城中村) of South China, we examine the ways in which rural migrant gay men achieve a sense of freedom, which is dependent on rural-to-urban migration, informal manufacturing jobs, and other queer peers, thus demonstrating a certain level of relational autonomy. Our article clearly shows how these men have come to identify as homeless guabi (挂逼, local slang for those who suffer a tragic and mysterious fate) and spend their days wandering, with no interest in stable work or long-term monogamous relationships. Our research offers a first-hand anthropological account of young adults from the rural working classes who prefer to ‘lie flat’ (躺平) – they refuse to strive for upward social mobility because they believe that upward social mobility is unattainable and a factory job too taxing.

The Influence of Socio-Demographic Factors on the Forms of Leisure for the Students at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports.

The study investigates the influences of gender, area of origin and age stage variables and also of the interaction between them, on the free time behavior of the students at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports from Galati. The questionnaire applied in the academic year 2019–2020 had 85 items and was structured on 4 factors: leisure budget, leisure limiting factors, preferred leisure activities, and leisure sports activities. The multivariate/MANOVA analysis showed statistically significant data for some of the analyzed items, with values of F associated with thresholds p < 0.05. The results support longer screen time for urban areas and for those <25 years and time limitation for the favorite activities of students >25 years, while reading had higher stress scores for men and students <25 years. Men tended to limit their free time working overtime and women limited their free time due to housework. Students from rural areas and men >25 years were more stressed by socializing on the internet and shopping. Financial limitations for preferred activities were higher for women and students <25 years—women read more and visited their friends more often while men had higher scores in relation to involvement in physical activities throughout the week, an aspect also reported for those <25 years. Students >25 years spent more time with their family, while those <25 years socialized more on the internet and had better scores when going out with friends. Those in urban areas did more jogging, men had better scores in relation to playing sports games, higher indicators for the satisfaction generated by sports activity, and women preferred jogging and cycling/rollerblading. Sports games and different types of fitness were the most common variants practiced at the level of the studied group. Conclusion: There was no dominant orientation of the investigated group towards forms of passive leisure and there were no cases of sedentariness, even if the use of technologies (video games, socializing on the Internet and TV) were forms of leisure often used by students.

Abstract 9163: Demographic Differences in Hypertension and Its Treatment in Malawi

Background: Hypertension (HTN), a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), is highly prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa. Health system interventions targeting demographic determinants of diagnosis and treatment may reduce downstream CVD burden. We investigated age, sex, and location-specific differences in HTN diagnosis and treatment in Malawi. Methods: We examined population-based household survey data (2013 - 2017) from the Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit of 30,575 adults &gt; 18 years with self-reported HTN diagnosis/treatment status and resting blood pressure measurements using standardized protocols. We used logistic regression to explore associations between demographic variables (age, sex, rural/urban location) and two outcomes: (1) measured HTN (defined as SBP &gt; 130 mmHg, regardless of diagnosis/treatment status), and (2) treatment for previously diagnosed HTN. Results: The overall prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed HTN was 9% and 19.6%, respectively; 45.4% of those previously diagnosed were on antihypertensive treatment. The probability of measured HTN regardless of treatment for those aged &gt;65 years was 80.8% (95% CI 79.1 - 82.5) and 66.5% (64.0 - 68.9) for urban women and men, respectively, and 65.6% (63.5 - 67.7) and 52.2% (49.7 - 54.7) for rural women and men, respectively. Among those with previously diagnosed HTN, probability of treatment was higher in older age groups, but did not differ between locations. Conclusions: We observed a high prevalence of undiagnosed HTN among rural- and urban-dwelling Malawians; over half of those reporting a diagnosis were untreated. Probability of measured HTN varied by sex and location, but probability of treatment did not. Population-level interventions that account for these patterns are needed in both rural and urban settings to increase effective HTN treatment coverage.

The elderly’s health capacity to work in China

ABSTRACT China’s rapidly aging population has diminished its labor force. This study examines the extent to which the elderly’s labor force participation could be enhanced given their health status. Using national aggregated data from the population census for 1990–2015 and survey data from the Chinese Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study for 2011–2015, we simulated the potential and additional work capacity of China’s elderly using methods employed in previous studies. We obtained four main findings. First, a substantial amount of unused work capacity exists in the 60–69 years age group in urban China, accounting for approximately 30% of the potential work capacity. Second, the additional work capacity is greater for urban residents and men than for rural residents and women. Third, the additional work capacity increases for urban men but decreases for rural men and women. Fourth, the change in sensitivity of work to health reduces potential work capacity.

Gender differences in time-poverty among rural householdsin Southwest Nigeria

This study seeks to assess gender inequality in and correlates of time poverty among 360 rural households in Southwest, Nigeria. A person is deemed to be time poor if (s)he works more than 10.5 hours per day, the internationally accepted threshold. Using the time allocation domain of the Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index, the study found that on the average, rural women and men spent about 10.3 hours and 8 hours, respectively, on work activities on a daily basis. Work activities for women were found to be diverse, spreading across reproductive and productive domains largely farming, own business e. g. trading, cooking and domestic work, while for men, work activities centred on productive economic activities, dominated by farming. Using a Probit regression model, the study found experience in agriculture and adoption of television to reduce the likelihood of time poverty among rural men. Surprisingly, participation in empowerment projects was found to increase the likelihood of time poverty among rural women. In conclusion, empowerment programmes should be expanded to address the non-material aspects of human well-being. Hence, the study recommends a gender-sensitive approach to intervention programmes in agriculture and adoption of a broader definition of empowerment which not only focus on expanding access to markets and increasing income but enhances control over time. This is more important for women who are already under the double burden of paid and unpaid domestic work.