Growing health gap between rural and urban men around the world

Do you ever wonder if where you live impacts your health? Well, you might be onto something. New research has opened a new chapter in the rural-urban health divide saga.

The studies rolling off their desks portray a rather disconcerting picture: rural men are living shorter lives and spending fewer of their twilight years in good health compared to their urban counterparts. Why is this so?

Health in rural and urban areas

Rural areas, often romanticized as idyllic havens of tranquility, are in fact battlegrounds where lifestyle habits wage war on human health daily.

Among rural men, the troika of smoking, obesity, and cardiovascular conditions have insidiously woven themselves into the fabric of life.

This deadly cocktail is fueling the rural-urban divide in illness. As our calendars keep flipping, this gap in health disparity widens. Spoiler alert: when rural men hit sixty, the game is almost over.

Rising demand, dwindling supply

As if the above predicaments weren’t enough, rural areas face an increasingly uphill battle when it comes to healthcare.

With a higher demand for care and dwindling provider numbers, the future seems bleak. Rural areas are aging faster, largely because the younger folk are packing their bags and heading to the cities.

This mass exodus further shrinks the supply of potential caregivers, posing quite a challenge for rural communities.

Rural health crisis

“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 USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.

“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.”

Health quality for rural men

The researchers used data from the Health and Retirement Survey and a prediction tool known as the Future Elderly Model.

The goal? To anticipate future life expectancy and health quality for rural and urban Americans after age 60.

They compared health trajectories for Americans who turned 60 between 2014-2020 and those who hit the mark between 1994-2000.

Their results? Quite startling. The disparity between rural and urban men has tripled in the last two decades. Presently, rural men can expect to live about two years less than their urban peers.

What’s more, they suffer from quality health for 1.8 fewer years.

Urban-rural health gap

About ten years ago, a game-changing study revealed that people with lower education levels are more prone to “deaths of despair” — think drug overdoses or suicide.

This new study shows that although education is a critical factor in health quality, it doesn’t fully explain the urban-rural gap.

When the researchers adjusted rural education levels to match their urban counterparts, they did see a reduction in the healthy life expectancy gap. But it was far from a perfect solution.

Interventions to bridge the gap

So, what can be done? Researchers suggest interventions focusing on smoking reduction, obesity management, and cardiovascular disease treatment and control.

But it’s easier said than done. Even the most effective interventions couldn’t completely bridge the rural-urban divide in healthy life expectancy.

Co-author Elizabeth Currid-Halkett is the James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning and a senior scholar at the USC Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service.

“While education matters, so does smoking, prevalent obesity, cardiovascular conditions – and simply living in a rural area — which leads not only to more deaths but more illness among rural American men,” Currid-Halkett explained.

“Closing the gap in healthy life expectancy between urban and rural areas for older adults would require encouraging health behavior changes earlier in life and making broader social and economic improvements in rural areas,” said co-author Bryan Tysinger, director of health policy simulation at the Schaeffer Center.

The big picture

There’s no easy way to put this: the health of rural men is in crisis. This glaring reality underscores the need for urgent, comprehensive, and multi-faceted interventions.

While progress might be slow and the challenge seems daunting, remember that every life improved is worth the effort. After all, health shouldn’t be a luxury determined by your zip code.

The study is published in The Journal of Rural Health.

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