The Columbus Dispatch: Rural Ohioans are dying at alarming rates. We can and must address this. | Opinion

Those of us who work for the health and well-being of rural communities, especially in Ohio, have reason to be discouraged recently.

There’s been bad news: A report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service found that people in rural areas are far more likely to die young of natural causes than their counterparts in metropolitan areas — and that this health gap has become dramatically worse over the past two decades.

This terrible trend is most pronounced among those ages 25 to 54 — what should be their prime, most productive years.

Between 1999 and 2001, the study found, the rate of natural-cause mortality in rural communities was on average 6% higher than for similar people in metro areas. By the period spanning 2017-2019, that average gap had exploded to a shocking 43%.

To read the full article, click here.