Regular monitoring of “excess deaths” in rural areas could facilitate identification of trending health issues. | File photo
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Carol Ostrow | Jan 19, 2017

Rural residents more likely to succumb to 5 causes of death

Five specific adverse health events or conditions — heart disease, cancer, inadvertent injury, chronic lower respiratory disease and stroke — are more likely to cause fatalities in rural areas than in urban districts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed this month.

In their report, researchers stated that higher death rates in rural areas occur for the five specific adverse events or health disorders listed as causes of death.

Scientists examined data gathered from the National Vital Statistics System from 1999 to 2014. When adjusting for age factors, they found that residents of rural regions experienced significantly higher death rates than their metropolitan counterparts.

Roughly half the fatalities ensued from accidents and chronic lower respiratory disease. The CDC suggested that regular monitoring of “excess deaths” in rural areas could facilitate identification of trending health issues and offer interventions for preventing deaths.

Although “top five” fatalities have been decreasing overall nationwide, results showed that the rate of decrease was slower in rural regions than in urban areas.

As of 2014, approximately 15 percent of the United States population, or 46 million individuals, resided in nonmetropolitan jurisdictions, according to a study performed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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