News

More people from the rural areas of the United States are dying from heart disease, a new study has found. According to a report by the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, heart diseases like heart attack and stroke deaths increased among 25-64-year-olds in US rural areas by about 21 per cent between 2010 and 2022.

The report, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, said this happened even as heart death rates declined per cent among the elderly in urban areas. The results also showed the disparity between rural residents and urban dwellers widened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Leading up to the pandemic, the cardiometabolic health of rural communities was already in decline, particularly among younger adults,” said Dr. Lucas Marinacci, lead researcher and cardiology fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in a news release. "This may have made them more vulnerable to both the direct and indirect cardiovascular effects of COVID-19,” he added.

For the study, researchers analyzed national death data for more than 11 million adults between 2010 and 2022. “Previous research has demonstrated disparities in cardiovascular mortality between rural and urban Americans, with, historically, more people in rural areas dying from heart disease compared to people living in cities,” Marinacci said.

“Rural communities bear a disproportionate burden of cardiovascular risk factors, as well as economic hardship and health care system challenges, such as hospital closures, physician shortages and lack of public health infrastructure, all of which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.

During the 12-year span of the study, the heart disease death rate increased by just under 1 per cent in rural areas, but significantly lowered by around 6 per cent in the cities. Everywhere, heart disease deaths among seniors fell, but only 4 per cent in rural areas compared with 9 per cent in urban areas.

Researchers said after the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, heart death rates increased across the country - by more than 8 per cent in rural regions as compared to just 4 per cent in the urban areas.

“Cardiovascular risk factor control worsened during the pandemic, and those in rural areas experienced greater interruptions in health care coverage, access, and affordability,” Marinacci said. “The unprecedented surge in economic and psychosocial distress that occurred during the wake of the pandemic also disproportionately impacted rural populations.”

Due to this, “a growing burden of cardiometabolic disease combined with other risk-enhancing factors — all of which were likely exacerbated by the pandemic — may have caused rural-urban disparities in death rates to widen even further during the 12-year study period,” he added.

According to experts, when it comes to heart health, there are various challenges faced by those living in rural areas which include other risk factors like diabetes and high blood pressure – all of which do not get treated because of a lack of healthcare facilities.

Even speciality care and cardiovascular technologies are not readily available for those living in rural areas, thereby making them vulnerable to heart issues.

Scientists have called for better cardiovascular-specific interventions like telehealth-based specialist visits, along with policy interventions to improve the accessibility and affordability of care, so that those living in rural areas can help reverse the alarming trends.

Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Health and around the world.