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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health Disparities – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Rural Health Disparities.

Rural–Urban Disparities in Adverse Maternal Outcomes in the United States, 2016–2019
Analyzes maternal mortality and admissions to the intensive care unit (ICU) in rural and urban areas in the U.S. between 2016 and 2019. Utilizes Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) to examine rural versus urban maternal health disparities.
Author(s): Katharine A. Harrington, Natalie A. Cameron, Kasen Culler, William A. Grobman, Sadiya S. Khan
Citation: American Journal of Public Health, 113(2), 224-227
Date: 01/2023
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Rural Healthy People 2030
Presents literature reviews of 20 rural public health priority topics identified through a survey of rural stakeholders. Reviews the scope of each topic, discusses related goals and objectives from the national Healthy People 2030 initiative, identifies affected populations, highlights interventions and solutions, and more. Topics include mental health, substance use, social determinants of health, access to care, quality of care, chronic health conditions, and COVID-19.
Author(s): Alva O. Ferdinand, Jane N. Bolin, Timothy Callaghan, et al.
Date: 2023
Sponsoring organization: Southwest Rural Health Research Center
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Health Disparities in Central Nervous System Disorders: Driving Transformative Change: Proceedings of a Workshop–In Brief
Highlights the proceedings of a workshop on strategies to reduce health disparities relating to central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Explores CNS health disparities in rural and low-income communities, such as American Indian and Alaska Native tribal nations. Discusses the roles academia, industry, and the government have in creating a diverse neuroscience workforce to advance community partnerships and collaborations.
Additional links: Read Online
Author(s): Board on Health Sciences Policy
Date: 2023
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Streamlining Research Access
Features an interview with Per Ostmo, Program Director of the Rural Health Research Gateway. Discusses the mission of the Gateway and highlights some of the research projects rural health research centers (RHRCs) have undertaken. Highlights some challenges facing rural healthcare delivery and points to some conclusions drawn from RHRC research.
Date: 11/2022
Sponsoring organization: Minnesota Physician Publishing, Inc.
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Health, Work, and Care in Rural America
Report examining rural access to paid leave from work, the economic impacts of limited access to paid leave, and distances to hospital-based and skilled nursing care. Offers a broad view of rural economic and health dynamics, travel burdens to access hospital-based care, and presents policy recommendations to address paid leave as a social determinant of health.
Author(s): Vicki Shabo, Hannah Friedman
Date: 11/2022
Sponsoring organization: New America
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QuickStats: Age-Adjusted Death Rates for Stroke Among Adults Aged ≥ 65 Years, by Region and Metropolitan Status — National Vital Statistics System, United States, 2020
Bar chart showing stroke death rates among adults 65 and older, overall and for metropolitan and nonmetro areas. Includes data for the U.S. as a whole as well as by region for the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West.
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 71(43), 1386
Date: 10/2022
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Inequities in Availability of Evidence-Based Birth Supports to Improve Perinatal Health for Socially Vulnerable Rural Residents
Examines the social risk factors rural residents face related to maternal and infant mortality. Utilizes data from 285 rural hospitals across the United States that have inpatient birthing centers to measure the availability of maternal and postpartum supports such as breastfeeding support groups, nurse home visiting, childbirth education classes, and more. Evaluates each hospital's social vulnerability index (SVI) on the county-level to determine the level of birth support inequities in rural areas and for residents who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).
Author(s): Bridget Basile Ibrahim, Julia D. Interrante, Alyssa H. Fritz, Mariana S. Tuttle, Katy Backes Kozhimannil
Citation: Children, 9(7), 1077
Date: 07/2022
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Wiping Away the Tears: Addressing Increasing Death in Rural America
Examines rural mortality trends and discusses the impact of the opioid epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic, as well as rural maternal and infant mortality. Describes federally-funded efforts to address rural disparities.
Author(s): Whitney Zahnd
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 07/2022
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Advancing Health Equity in Rural America
Report examining rural health equity, covering rural economic and demographic data, disparities by rurality, race/ethnicity, and class, and examples of initiatives that aim to increase health equity in rural communities. Offers recommendations for increasing health equity through economic and policy actions.
Additional links: Executive Summary
Author(s): Paula Braveman, Julia Acker, Elaine Arkin, Katrina Badger, Nicole Holm
Date: 06/2022
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
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Self-Rated Health Among Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Adults: Rural/Urban Differences
Policy brief examining differences in self-rated health by sexual orientation and rural or urban location. Includes statistics from the National Health Interview Survey, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and the Health Information National Trends Survey.
Author(s): Hannah MacDougall, Carrie Henning-Smith, Courtney Sarkin, Gilbert Gonzales
Date: 06/2022
Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
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Additional resources are available related to this guide. See the full list of resources by topic for: