Rural Americans are dying younger, living less healthy lives, alarming report reveals

Schwartzreport · 2 years ago · 107 views

Study Finds Staff,    -  Study Finds Stephan: Almost every day now I am seeing research studies like this one that make it clear that as a culture, and remember that culture is a creation of collective individual choices, fostering wellbeing is no longer a priority. As this report says, "Rural Americans tend to have higher rates of smoking, obesity, and chronic conditions at age 60, setting the stage for poorer health outcomes in later years." Then add to that the rise of "medical deserts, so that it becomes hard to get help and you can see a major trend emerging in rural America. Researchers warn that people opting for “the simple life” of rural America are actually living shorter lives. Credit: FORMAT / Unsplash Key Results The key finding was a significant gap in quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) between urban and rural residents, especially for men. Urban men at age 60 could expect 17.5 quality-adjusted years of life, compared to only 15.7 for rural men. For women, the gap was smaller but still present (19.3 years for urban women vs. 18.7 for rural women). The study also found that this gap has widened over the past two decades, with rural residents seeing little to no improvement in QALE while urban residents have made gains. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — For many Americans, moving to the country is a lifelong dream to finally escape the stress of busy city life. Unfortunately, a new study warns that people opting for “the simple life” of rural America are actually living shorter lives. Researchers at the University of Southern California have discovered a growing divide in health between [...]