Examining health status of women in rural, peri-urban and urban areas in Jamaica

BACKGROUND: A comprehensive review of the literature revealed that less information is available in literature on health status of women, and health status of women in 3 geographical zones in Jamaica. AIMS: This study examined data on the health status of women in Jamaica in order to provide some scientific explanation of those factors that account for their health status; and differences based on area of residence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sub-sample for the current study was 8,541 women ages of 15 and 100 years extracted from a national survey of 25,018 respondents. Stratified random sampling technique was used to draw the sample. Data were stored, retrieved and analyzed using SPSS 16.0. Descriptive statistics were used to provide background information on the subsample, and logistic regressions were utilized to model health statuses. RESULTS: Rural women had the lowest health status (OR = 0.819, 95% CI = 0.679-0.989) among all women (peri-urban OR = 1.054, 95% CI = 0.842-1.320; urban OR = 1.00) and that they were the least likely to have health insurance coverage. Health insurance was the critical predictor of good health status of women in Jamaica, and this was equally the same across the 3 geographic areas; and that married women were 1.3 times more likely (OR 1.3, 95 CI = 1.036-1.501) to report good health compared to those who were never married. CONCLUSION: This study provides an understanding of women's health status in Jamaica as well as the disparity which correlates based on the different geographical regions.