Rural Cardiovascular Deaths Rose 8.3 Percent From 2019 to 2022, Urban Deaths Rose 3.6 Percent

Cardiovascular mortality rose 8.3 percent in rural areas between 2019 and 2022, compared with a 3.6 percent increase in urban areas, according to a study published last month in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. @NBCNews reported the findings from the first national analysis of rural cardiovascular health during the COVID-19 period.

Heart disease and stroke deaths had declined in both rural and urban communities before 2019.

They increased after the pandemic began in 2020. Among adults ages 25 to 64, cardiovascular deaths rose overall from 2010 to 2022, while deaths fell among people 65 and older. The increases among working-age adults occurred at a faster rate in rural communities, and the decreases among older adults occurred at a slower rate.

A fifth of Americans live in rural areas. On average they live three years less than urban residents, largely due to heart disease and strokes. The rural-urban life expectancy gap widened between 2010 and 2022, driven by a 21 percent increase in cardiovascular deaths among working-age rural adults.

John Trembly Jr. died in 2023 at age 20 in Terra Alta, West Virginia. His autopsy showed his cardiovascular system had been destroyed. , said the younger Trembly had used methamphetamine to maintain a schedule of cleaning rental houses by day and businesses by night.

Stimulant overdoses from methamphetamine and cocaine increased nearly ninefold between 2012 and 2022. Dr. Rishi Wadhera, a cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and senior author of the study, said it is inexcusable for young adults to experience rising cardiovascular death rates anywhere in the country.