Case 14 : Rural Residence and Associated Health Disparities: The Case of Chatham-Kent

Rural populations face notably higher rates of chronic diseases than urban areas, specifically, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, cancer, and diabetes. This case focuses on Chatham-Kent, a small, rural town in Southwestern Ontario, to illustrate this point. More specifically, the case focuses on an epidemiological approach to provide evidence of the health disparities due to an individual’s place of residence. Based on the comparison of agestandardized rates, does the rural community of Chatham-Kent experience greater health disparities? This case provides the reader with practice in calculating and interpreting crude and agestandardized rates and the ability to disseminate findings about the health status of a given population