The growing rural-urban divide in US life expectancy: contribution of cardiovascular disease and other major causes of death.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The US rural disadvantage in life expectancy (LE) relative to urban areas has grown over time. We measured the contribution of cardiovascular disease (CVD), drug-overdose deaths (DODs) and other major causes of death to LE trends in rural and urban counties and the rural-urban LE gap.

Methods

Counterfactual life tables and cause-of-death decompositions were constructed using data on all US deaths in 1999-2019 (N = 51 998 560) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Results

During 1999-2009, rural and urban counties experienced robust LE gains, but urban LE increased by 1.19 years more in women and 0.86 years more in men compared with rural LE. During 2010-2019, rural counties experienced absolute declines in LE (women -0.20, men -0.30 years), w

SUBMITTER: Abrams LR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8743112 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature