Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Cardiovascular mortality rate in rural areas keeps declining, but not as much as in metropolitan areas, study finds

The death rate for cardiovascular disease in rural areas continues to decline, but not as much as it has in metropolitan areas, says a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

From 1999 and 2017, age-adjusted death rates for cardiovascular disease declined 4.1 percent in large metropolitan areas, 3.7% in smaller metro areas, and 3.2% in rural counties. Thus, the disparity in death rates urban and rural areas grew; it rose from 24 deaths per 100,000 population in 1999 to 42.8 deaths per 100,000 population in 2017.

The actual rate declines from 1999 to 2017 were: large metros, 347.6 to 208.6; medium and small metros, 343.7 to 221.8; and rural areas, 371.6 to 251.4.

The study involved several researchers from leading institutions and was led by Sarah Cross of the Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University.

One of the co-authors, Dr. Haider J. Warraich, associate director for the heart-failure program at the VA Boston Healthcare System, told United Press International, "This should be a wake-up call for the American people and policymakers. Rural health has been ignored far too long, and the rural health system has not been designed to help patients with chronic conditions like cardiovascular diseases . . . What we need is a more robust outpatient and population-focused healthcare system that incentivizes improvement in outcomes rather than rewards hospitalizations and procedures."

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