Rural men are dying earlier than their urban counterparts, and they're spending fewer of their later years in good health, according to new research from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. Higher rates of smoking, obesity and cardiovascular conditions among rural men are helping fuel a rural-urban divide in illness, and this gap has grown over time, according to the study published this week in the Journal of Rural Health . The findings suggest that by the time rural men reach age 60, there are limited opportunities to fully address this disparity, and earlier interventions may be needed to prevent it from widening further.
The findings also point to a rising demand for care in rural areas, which will particularly challenge these communities. Rural areas are more likely than urban ones to have shortages of health care providers and are aging faster as younger residents move to cities, which further shrinks the supply of potential caregivers. "Rural populations face a higher prevalence of chronic diseases, which has serious implications for healthy aging," said lead author Jack Chapel, a postdoctoral scholar at the Schaeffer Center.
"With an aging population and fewer physicians available, the burden on rural communities is set to grow, leading to significant challenges in providing care for those who will face more health issues in the future." Researchers used data from the Health and Retirement Survey and a microsimulation known as the Future Elderly Mo.