[Differences in the health and disease conditions in the rural and urban-suburban populations in Nuevo León state].

This work shows the results of two surveys taken in the state of Nuevo León, Mexico during 1985. The first survey, which covered morbidity and health service use, was taken from 759 households in urban/suburban Monterrey (a city of two million inhabitants and capital of the state of Nuevo León) and from 751 households from a stratified sample from the rest of the state. The second survey, which had to do with the different aspects of quality health services available, was given to 752 patients in 93 distinct health units in Monterrey and all over the state. The objectives of this publication are: 1) to describe the morbidity of the populations in question, as well as to describe the different aspects of the supply and demand of health services; 2) to compare the conditions of life reflected in the state of health between the rural and urban/suburban zones of Nuevo León. The results obtained show that those in the urban/suburban zones of Monterrey possess certain advantages over those in the rural areas in the state of Nuevo León such as: a higher level of schooling, lower emigration to the U.S.A., a lower fertility index, lower morbidity from severe illnesses and a lower death rate in children, wider coverage from health insurance, better communication between doctor and patient, more frequent use of health services, and greater participation in prevention programs. Rural area life has the following advantages: a lower number of cesarean sections, and a prolonged period of maternal suckling. In this work, we present the opinion that the primary health care currently centered in the urban zones, where the population is much greater, should not impair the required attention in the rural areas (areas that are more extensive and often unattended).