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TOPLINE:

Caregivers living in rural areas reported poorer general and physical health and were more likely to smoke and have obesity than caregivers in urban areas, according to a recent analysis.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers analyzed data from a cross-sectional survey to study the differences in sociodemographic characteristics, experiences, and health of caregivers in rural and urban settings.
• Participants were identified as unpaid caregivers if they provided regular care to a friend or family member with a health problem or disability in the past 30 days.
• Rurality was defined using a 2013 Urban-Rural Classification Scheme, and participants were classified as living in rural counties if they resided in micropolitan or noncore counties and living in urban counties if they resided in metro counties.
• A total of 44,274 unpaid caregivers (60% women) from 47 US states participated, of whom one quarter lived in rural counties.
• Caregiving attributes, including relationship to the care recipient, duration of caregiving, and assistance with activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living, were analyzed. The well-being of caregivers was assessed through their health, health behaviors, and health-related quality of life.

TAKEAWAY:

• Rural caregivers were more likely to have obesity (42.9% vs 37.5%; P < .0001).
• Rural caregivers were more likely to be current smokers (24.2% vs 15.5%; P < .0001) but less likely to be binge drinkers (12.7% vs 15.3%; P = .003) than urban caregivers.
• Rural caregivers were more likely than urban caregivers to report fair or poor general health (20.3% vs 17.0%; P = .0003).
• No significant differences were found in mental health or limited activity in the past month between rural and urban caregivers.

IN PRACTICE:

“This study is extremely valuable for members of rural communities as it allows policy makers to better understand the landscape of caregiving amongst minoritized rural residents and help program developers design and implement initiatives for rural caregivers,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Emma Kathryn Boswell, MPH, of the University of South Carolina Rural Health Research Center at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. It was published online on June 13, 2025, in The Journal of Rural Health.

LIMITATIONS:

The reliance on self-reported data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System may have introduced recall and social desirability bias. The cross-sectional design limited the ability to determine cause-and-effect relationships between caregiving and health outcomes.

DISCLOSURES:

This research did not receive any specific funding. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.