Structural Disadvantage, Civic Community, and Heart Disease Mortality: A County-level Analysis across the Rural-urban Continuum

• In Event: 411 - Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 06. Health Disparities.

Abstract

Although an extensive amount of literature exists on structural factors associated with mortality rates, studies have largely ignored the correlates of mortality outside of metropolitan areas. Where examined, research indicated important differences in the structural correlates of mortality between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan locales. This paper examines deaths due to heart disease—the leading cause of death in the United States—across the rural-urban continuum. Results from Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis indicate that county-level structural disadvantage contributes to elevated rates of county-level deaths due to heart disease across the rural-urban continuum; however, the relationship between other structural characteristics and heart disease mortality varies across levels of urbanization.

Author

• Kayla Fontenot