Drug Use in Urban and Rural Areas
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Statistics
During 1999–2014, annual age-adjusted death rates for the five leading causes of death in the United States (heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease, and stroke) were higher in rural (nonmetropolitan) areas than in urban (metropolitan) areas. Many factors influence the rural-urban mortality gap, including socioeconomic differences, health-related behaviors, and access to health care services. Residents of rural areas in the United States tend to be poorer and sicker than their urban counterparts, with rural residents in the South and West experiencing some of the most adverse health outcomes. In each year during 1999–2015, all-cause injury death rates…
