Rural Americans are dying from heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease, and stroke at a higher rate than those living in urban areas.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sets a threshold for the number of people expected to die from each cause of death in a year. Researchers classified any additional deaths of people under 80-years-old as “preventable early” deaths.
Here’s a look at the disparities in Georgia.
Heart disease
The rate of preventable early heart disease deaths increased in rural Georgia from 2010 to 2022. In 2022, about 56% of heart disease deaths in rural Georgia were preventable.
In urban Georgia, the rate of preventable heart disease deaths is the same as it was in 2010 – 41%.
Cancer
The share of cancer deaths deemed preventable by the CDC decreased nationwide and in Georgia, but at unequal rates. Preventable cancer deaths decreased 85% in urban Georgia from 2010 to 2022, while preventable cancer deaths decreased just 33% in rural Georgia over that same time period.
Compared to Georgians in urban areas, people in rural Georgia were nearly five times as likely to die preventable early deaths due to cancer in 2022.
Unintentional injury
The rate of preventable early deaths from unintentional injuries, including drug overdoses, are on the rise in both rural and urban communities in Georgia. Unintentional injury was the only cause of death that increased in both urban and rural communities over the past decade. They also include deaths from car crashes, drowning, falls and accidental gunshots.
Deaths from unintentional injuries are up nearly 60% in urban Georgia and 23% in rural Georgia compared to 2010.
Rural residents died from unintentional injuries at a rate greater than those living in an urban area.
Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease
In 2022, people in rural Georgia died premature deaths from chronic lower respiratory disease at more than twice the rate of those in urban Georgia.
This cause of death is one where improvements in urban areas have far outpaced rural areas. Since 2010, the share of preventable deaths from chronic lower respiratory disease fell 38% in urban Georgia compared to a 2% decline in rural Georgia.
Stroke
Back in 2010, rural Georgia had the third-highest rate of preventable stroke deaths in the U.S. In 2022, rural Georgia fell to the fourteenth spot. In urban Georgia, the rate of preventable stroke deaths was nearly the same as it was in 2010.
In Georgia, the cause of excess deaths with the smallest disparity was strokes – with a 7% difference between the rate of early deaths in rural and urban communities.
