Black people in rural areas more likely than white people to die from diabetes, high blood pressure

的 rate of deaths related to diabetes and high blood pressure among Black people over the past two decades improved in urban areas, 根据一项新的研究, 但农村社区落后了.

科学家们多年前就知道，美国农村地区的人们生活在农村.S. were more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than their city counterparts. But researchers wanted to see if recent efforts to reduce the racial gap in health were working equally in both areas of the country.

首先，他们研究了美国.S. 从1999年到2018年，25岁及以上黑人和白人成年人的死亡人数. 的n they zeroed in on where people lived and what cardiovascular conditions were listed as a cause of death.

While the 研究 found death rates in rural areas were higher for Black adults compared with white adults for heart disease and stroke, it did show the racial gap in heart disease deaths declined at a similar rate in both rural and urban areas – and fell more rapidly for stroke in rural areas than in urban ones.

But the gap was especially wide for deaths related to diabetes and high blood pressure. Black rural residents were two to three times more likely to die from those conditions than white rural residents.

城市地区的情况略有不同. 的 gap between the rate of deaths for diabetes and high blood pressure among Black and white people improved about three times faster in cities and nearby suburbs than it did in rural areas.

"What's really concerning is these disparities haven't meaningfully improved over the last two decades,首席作者Dr. 拉胡尔Aggarwal, a resident physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

的 findings suggest a dire need for health care improvements in rural areas, he said. "It's important to modify public health and policy initiatives so we can get to the root causes of these regional inequities, 包括收入不平等, 结构性种族主义和获得保健服务的机会."

的 研究 will be presented Friday at the 美国心脏协会's virtual Epidemiology, 预防, 生活方式 & 心脏代谢健康会议. 研究还发现 发表在《线上电子游戏飞禽走兽》上.

大约6000万美国人——占美国人口的20%.S. 人口-居住在农村地区. 去年，美国心脏协会发布了 农村卫生咨询 in the journal Circulation calling for better long-term funding for Medicaid patients and for rural hospitals and care clinics. 的 advisory also recommended using digital and telemedicine tools to improve cardiovascular health in rural areas.

"From a rural perspective, you have to think of new solutions," said Dr. 基斯Churchwell, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut. "This may be an opportunity to take a deeper dive to see if telehealth can lead to better pathways to improve care."

农村地区的医生面临着独特的挑战, 包括隔离和卫生保健专业人员短缺, 说Churchwell, 谁没有参与这项新研究. "You're at risk of having a disconnect in your ability to take care of patients."

He called for more research to explore why racial disparities are improving in urban areas for diabetes and hypertension and to see how those gains can be duplicated in rural settings. “也许我们可以从改进治疗中吸取教训, 为世界各地人民提供的成果和全面护理."

如果你对这个故事有任何问题或评论，请发电子邮件 (电子邮件保护).