Life-Course Transitions in Rural Residence and Old-Age Mortality in Iowa, 1930-2014.

Early-life conditions are associated with mortality in men, but not studied to the same extent in women. We add new evidence by studying a cohort of women born between 1916 and 1931 and followed for mortality between 1986 and 2013. Our sample from Iowa includes a significant number of rural women, from both farms and small towns. The long-term effects of growing up in a rural area were mixed: farmers' daughters lived longer than women growing up off-farm in rural areas. Daughters of farm laborers and skilled or semi-skilled trades workers fared worst, when considering early-life socioeconomic status. We also find evidence that migrating to small-town Iowa was associated with lower life expectancy after age fifty-five. Considering social class and farm-nonfarm status is important for understanding the health of rural America.

Chronic health conditions and voter turnout: Results from the 2012 United States presidential election.

This study examined associations between diagnoses with five chronic health conditions (diabetes, cancer, heart disease, asthma, and arthritis) and turnout in the 2012 US presidential election. We used cross-sectional survey data from 16 states from the 2013 and 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. We estimated a logistic regression model with the main dependent variable as a survey item asking respondents if they voted. We also estimated logistic regression models stratified by race/ethnicity to assess whether the chronic health condition-turnout relationships varied within each racial/ethnic group. Results show that individuals diagnosed with diabetes were 7 percentage-points more likely to vote that those who were not. Stratified models revealed these diabetes-turnout relationships are particularly strong among those who identified as Hispanic and multiracial. Other health characteristics demonstrated consistency with previous literature, including lower self-rated health being associated with lower odds of turnout. Our research suggests an intriguing new relationship between the experience of diabetes and a higher propensity to vote and that different chronic health conditions have varying associations with the likelihood to vote, implying that some groups are more vulnerable to being underrepresented in politics.

Physical inactivity and risk of poor quality of life among elderly cancer survivors compared to women without cancer: the Iowa Women's Health Study.

PURPOSE: Few studies have examined lifestyle factors and quality of life (QOL) in cancer survivors compared to a cancer-free group. Compared to active cancer-free women, we examined the association between physical inactivity and QOL in elderly cancer survivors and similar-aged women without cancer. METHODS: Participants included 1776 cancer survivors and 12,599 cancer-free women enrolled in the Iowa Women's Health Study in 1986 who completed the SF36 QOL assessment in 2004 (ages 73-88 years). The odds of poor QOL were computed for each SF36 subscale (>0.5 SD below mean score of cancer-free women) associated with physical inactivity (moderate-vigorous activity

The Bodies Politic: Chronic Health Conditions and Voter Turnout in the 2008 Election.

Health policy researchers often evaluate the social and economic consequences of chronic illness, but rarely have they considered the implications of chronic illness on one important form of political participation: voting. However, if chronic illnesses--already unequally distributed in society--are associated with differential rates of voter turnout, then these inequalities in democratic representation could, in turn, produce further health inequity. In this study, we use data from eight states from the 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey to examine the associations between having diagnoses of five chronic conditions and turnout in the 2008 US presidential election. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and some health-related confounding factors, we find that individuals with cancer diagnoses are more likely to vote, while those with heart disease diagnoses are less likely to vote. These associations differ by race and educational status; notably, African Americans and those with lower education with cancer are even more likely to turn out to vote than whites and those with more education with cancer. We discuss the implications of our findings in the context of health social movements and the role of health organizations in shaping political processes, important directions for the study of health politics.