Table 2.
Comparing Access to and Use of Health Information Sources between Rural and Urban Residents
| ACCESS | USE | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unadjusted | Adjusted | Unadjusted | Adjusted | ||||||||||||
| Sources | OR | 95% CI | P | OR | 95% CI | P | OR | 95% CI | P | OR | 95% CI | P | |||
| ALL SOURCES | 0.68 | 0.53, 0.87 | .002** | 0.85 | 0.66, 1.10 | .208 | 1.01 | 0.86, 1.19 | .882 | 1.07 | 0.91, 1.27 | .410 | |||
| HEALTH PROFESSIONALS | 0.70 | 0.55, 0.88 | .003** | 0.82 | 0.65, 1.05 | .115 | 1.00 | 0.83, 1.20 | .970 | 1.05 | 0.86, 1.28 | .628 | |||
| Primary care providers | 0.56 | 0.34, 0.90 | .016* | 0.65 | 0.39, 1.08 | .094 | 0.88 | 0.48, 1.62 | .690 | 1.00 | 0.53, 1.89 | .997 | |||
| Nurses | 0.68 | 0.45, 1.03 | .069 | 0.96 | 0.61, 1.49 | .841 | 1.44 | 0.94, 2.21 | .094 | 1.68 | 1.06, 2.64 | .026* | |||
| Specialist doctors | 0.58 | 0.41, 0.82 | .002** | 0.62 | 0.43, 0.90 | .011* | 0.78 | 0.52, 1.17 | .229 | 0.78 | 0.50, 1.21 | .266 | |||
| Pharmacists | 0.73 | 0.49, 1.11 | .144 | 0.87 | 0.56, 1.36 | .549 | 1.34 | 0.92, 1.94 | .126 | 1.37 | 0.93, 2.04 | .114 | |||
| Veterinarians | 0.84 | 0.57, 1.23 | .359 | 0.86 | 0.57, 1.29 | .461 | 1.53 | 0.66, 3.56 | .325 | 2.22 | 0.85, 5.83 | .106 | |||
| Dentists | 0.68 | 0.48, 0.95 | .026* | 0.89 | 0.61, 1.29 | .528 | 0.80 | 0.53, 1.21 | .297 | 0.83 | 0.53, 1.30 | .425 | |||
| LAY INDIVIDUALS | 0.75 | 0.56, 1.01 | .056 | 0.84 | 0.62, 1.14 | .260 | 1.24 | 0.90, 1.71 | .199 | 1.32 | 0.94, 1.85 | .105 | |||
| Friends | 0.71 | 0.42, 1.18 | .188 | 0.77 | 0.44, 1.33 | .343 | 1.06 | 0.73, 1.54 | .741 | 1.16 | 0.78, 1.72 | .471 | |||
| Family | 0.56 | 0.31, 1.02 | .059 | 0.68 | 0.36, 1.27 | .221 | 1.21 | 0.79, 1.86 | .382 | 1.31 | 0.83, 2.06 | .249 | |||
| Religious organizations and leaders | 0.72 | 0.52, 1.00 | .049* | 0.79 | 0.56, 1.11 | .172 | 1.66 | 0.96, 2.88 | .070 | 1.83 | 0.97, 3.43 | .061 | |||
| HEALTH AUTHORITIES | 0.83 | 0.63, 1.09 | .171 | 1.00 | 0.75, 1.34 | .983 | 1.05 | 0.65, 1.69 | .850 | 1.32 | 0.80, 2.20 | .279 | |||
| Health fairs | 0.83 | 0.59, 1.17 | .283 | 0.98 | 0.68, 1.40 | .892 | 1.70 | 0.98, 2.95 | .060 | 1.91 | 1.03, 3.53 | .039* | |||
| Local health department | 1.06 | 0.72, 1.55 | .767 | 1.05 | 0.70, 1.57 | .813 | 1.42 | 0.97, 2.09 | .073 | 1.38 | 0.91, 2.10 | .129 | |||
| Federal government organizations | 0.63 | 0.44, 0.90 | .011* | 0.72 | 0.49, 1.07 | .101 | 0.85 | 0.58, 1.24 | .396 | 0.91 | 0.60, 1.37 | .649 | |||
| Scientists | 0.70 | 0.50, 0.96 | .028* | 0.75 | 0.53, 1.06 | .103 | 0.72 | 0.47, 1.10 | .121 | 0.86 | 0.54, 1.35 | .506 | |||
| Scientific literature | 0.82 | 0.59, 1.15 | .245 | 1.03 | 0.71, 1.48 | .879 | 0.90 | 0.62, 1.32 | .595 | 1.06 | 0.70, 1.60 | .796 | |||
| ONLINE SOURCES | 0.67 | 0.45, 1.00 | .047* | 0.87 | 0.57, 1.32 | .506 | 0.89 | 0.71, 1.11 | .302 | 0.95 | 0.75, 1.20 | .660 | |||
| Search engines | 0.74 | 0.42, 1.31 | .302 | 0.90 | 0.49, 1.65 | .731 | 0.66 | 0.45, 0.97 | .036* | 0.74 | 0.49, 1.11 | .144 | |||
| Social media | 0.71 | 0.48, 1.03 | .074 | 0.86 | 0.57, 1.29 | .456 | 0.67 | 0.44, 1.01 | .055 | 0.70 | 0.45, 1.09 | .111 | |||
| Medical websites | 0.68 | 0.41, 1.14 | .142 | 0.83 | 0.47, 1.44 | .502 | 0.86 | 0.57, 1.31 | .489 | 0.94 | 0.61, 1.46 | .792 | |||
| Blogs or celebrity webpages | 0.67 | 0.47, 0.96 | .030* | 0.81 | 0.55, 1.20 | .303 | 0.96 | 0.54, 1.69 | .875 | 1.19 | 0.64, 2.22 | .585 | |||
| MASS MEDIA | 0.63 | 0.41, 0.97 | .034* | 0.87 | 0.55, 1.37 | .542 | 1.05 | 0.69, 1.60 | .813 | 1.20 | 0.78, 1.86 | .413 | |||
| Newspapers | 0.72 | 0.50, 1.02 | .064 | 0.85 | 0.58, 1.24 | .391 | 0.85 | 0.56, 1.27 | .422 | 0.90 | 0.58, 1.40 | .637 | |||
| Magazines | 0.65 | 0.45, 0.92 | .016* | 0.77 | 0.53, 1.13 | .185 | 1.01 | 0.70, 1.47 | .951 | 1.14 | 0.77, 1.71 | .513 | |||
| Books | 0.72 | 0.50, 1.03 | .075 | 0.88 | 0.59, 1.31 | .529 | 1.52 | 1.05, 2.18 | .025* | 1.66 | 1.13, 2.45 | .011* | |||
| Television | 0.73 | 0.50, 1.07 | .107 | 0.84 | 0.56, 1.25 | .381 | 1.03 | 0.72, 1.47 | .866 | 1.21 | 0.83, 1.79 | .324 | |||
| Radio | 0.67 | 0.47, 0.95 | .025* | 0.81 | 0.27, 1.18 | .273 | 0.84 | 0.53, 1.34 | .466 | 1.01 | 0.61, 1.67 | .960 | |||
| COMPANIES | 0.79 | 0.54, 1.17 | .243 | 0.90 | 0.59, 1.36 | .613 | 1.58 | 0.71, 3.51 | .265 | 1.72 | 0.76, 3.90 | .196 | |||
| Pharmaceutical companies | 0.82 | 0.60, 1.14 | .241 | 0.90 | 0.64, 1.27 | .536 | 1.13 | 0.75, 1.71 | .564 | 1.19 | 0.77, 1.86 | .431 | |||
| Other companies or corporations | 0.88 | 0.64, 1.22 | .452 | 0.92 | 0.65, 1.31 | .652 | 1.90 | 1.04, 3.48 | .038* | 1.82 | 0.95, 3.48 | .070 | |||
Note. Results were weighted using the rural-urban specific weight; OR = odds ratio; SE = standard error; CI = confidence interval;
*
indicates P < .05;
**
indicates P < .01.
For Access, unadjusted models contained the single predictor (rural versus urban); adjusted models included race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic other), income (continuous), and education (continuous) as covariates; For Use, unadjusted models contained Access as a covariate; adjusted models included Access, race/ethnicity, income, and education as covariates.