Cardiologist disparities highlight rural health care gap

Disparate access to cardiologists highlights rural health care gap

About half of U.S. counties don't have a cardiologist
The disparity is more likely to affect rural communities
More broadband access, insurance overage could help

Updated: Jul 9, 2024 / 06:45 PM CDT

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(NewsNation) — Nearly half of the nation’s counties have no cardiologist, despite people in those same counties experiencing greater than average heart-related health risks, according to an analysis published in the Journals of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

The disparity disproportionately affects rural counties, 86.2% of which had no cardiologists. About 46.3% of studied counties with more than 22 million residents had no cardiologist, while the remaining had 24 cardiologists on average, according to the Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology (DAIC) summary of the study’s findings.

Counties without cardiologists were more likely to be rural with lower household incomes and fewer insured residents. They also had less access to healthy foods and greater rates of preventable hospitalization, according to DAIC.

Compared to counties with cardiologists, those without had a 31% higher heart-related health risk and higher age-adjusted cardiovascular death rates.

A separate May report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention similarly noted that preventable early deaths from the five leading causes (heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease and stroke) are more common in rural communities than urban areas.

Improving broadband access, health insurance coverage and digital know-how are among some of the interventions that could ease the burden on rural and disadvantaged communities, researchers said.