Inevitably, further research turns up even more information, though the reader is cautioned that these excursions into the literature are by no means comprehensive and may be incomplete. That said, here are some newly reported findings on asthma in rural areas. Relative scarcity of asthma and atopy among rural adolescents raised on a farm. The differences were especially pronounced in girls. They felt the most likely explanation for these findings was that the rural farm environment led to exposure, from a very early age, to a varied and complicated blend of irritant, allergenic and infectious agents.
Austrian children living on a farm have less hay fever, asthma and allergic sensitization.
Reduced risk of hay fever and asthma among children of farmers. It seems that this bit of good news is countered to some extent by a continuing occupational risk encountered mainly by rural adults, particularly farmers, and expressed often as morbidity in older age groups. Asthma management in rural Australia. Health service accessibility and deaths from asthma in 401 local authority districts in England and Wales, 1988-92. These authors examined the relationship of mortality to distance from acute care facilities.