Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun;36(3):410-415.
doi: 10.1111/jrh.12354. Epub 2019 Feb 25.

The Changing Landscape of Diabetes Mortality in the United States Across Region and Rurality, 1999-2016

Timothy Callaghan  1   2 , Alva O Ferdinand  1   2 , Marvellous A Akinlotan  1   2 , Samuel D Towne Jr  2   3   4 , Jane Bolin  1   2
Affiliations

The Changing Landscape of Diabetes Mortality in the United States Across Region and Rurality, 1999-2016

Timothy Callaghan et al. J Rural Health. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: This brief report examines place-based differences in diabetes mortality in order to understand whether disparities in diabetes mortality have changed across United States Census regions and levels of rurality over time.

Methods: We use data from the National Center for Health Statistics from 1999 to 2016 to analyze changes in diabetes mortality over time and across geographical regions of the United States.

Findings: We find evidence that diabetes mortality has declined in the United States over the past 2 decades, but that improvements in mortality vary considerably by place. Improvements are observed in urban America and in the Northeast and Midwest while diabetes mortality has remained largely unchanged in rural areas, particularly in the rural South.

Conclusions: Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, but important differences have emerged in the burden of this disease. Reductions in diabetes mortality are lagging in rural areas, and the rural South in particular, relative to other areas of the country. Continued innovations in care and targeted interventions in rural areas are warranted.

Keywords: chronic disease; diabetes; mortality; region; rural.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics: Number of Deaths for Leading Causes of Death; 2017. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm. Accessed February 28, 2018.
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Diabetes Statistics Report. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services; 2017. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pdfs/data/statistics/national-diabetes-stat.... Accessed February 12, 2019.
    1. Bolin J, Schulze A, Helduser J, Ory M. The burden of diabetes in rural America. In Bolin, J, et al., eds. Rural Healthy People 2020, Vol. 1. College Station, TX: The Texas A&M University Health Science Center, School of Public Health, Southwest Rural Health Research Center; 2015:43-53.
    1. Brown-Guion SY, Youngerman SM, Hernandez-Tejada MA, Dismuke CE, Egede LE. Racial/ethnic, regional, and rural/urban differences in receipt of diabetes education. Diab Educator. 2013;39(3):327-334.
    1. O'brien T, Denham SA. Diabetes care and education in rural regions. Diab Educator. 2008;34(2):334-347.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources