Rural white women dying off at faster rates

[eridani]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2016/04/10/a-new-divide-in-american-death/

White women have been dying prematurely at higher rates since the turn of this century, passing away in their 30s, 40s and 50s in a slow-motion crisis driven by decaying health in small-town America, according to an analysis of national health and mortality statistics by The Washington Post.

Among African Americans, Hispanics and even the oldest white Americans, death rates have continued to fall. But for white women in what should be the prime of their lives, death rates have spiked upward. In one of the hardest-hit groups — rural white women in their late 40s — the death rate has risen by 30 percent.

The Post’s analysis, which builds on academic research published last year, shows a clear divide in the health of urban and rural Americans, with the gap widening most dramatically among whites. The statistics reveal two Americas diverging, neither as healthy as it should be but one much sicker than the other.

In modern times, rising death rates are extremely rare and typically involve countries in upheaval, such as Russia immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In affluent countries, people generally enjoy increasingly long lives, thanks to better cancer treatments; drugs that lower cholesterol and the risk of heart attacks; fewer fatal car accidents; and less violent crime.

But progress for middle-aged white Americans is lagging in many places — and has stopped entirely in smaller cities and towns and the vast open reaches of the country. The things that reduce the risk of death are now being overwhelmed by things that elevate it, including opioid abuse, heavy drinking, smoking and other self-destructive behaviors.

White men are also dying in midlife at unexpectedly high rates. But the most extreme changes in mortality have occurred among white women, who are far more likely than their grandmothers to be smokers, suffer from obesity or drink themselves to death.

[smirkymonkey]

1. Hopelessness?

There is no incentive to take care of yourself when you don't see much of a future.

[rjsquirrel]

2. Opiates

First time we have had a major drug epidemic that affects more women than men.

"Dying off" sounds dramatic. They are living slightly less long. And the biggest driver of it is addiction.

[smirkymonkey]

3. But they may be turning to drugs because out of despair.

Like most other demographics. However, this is one demographic that has previously not had such a high rate of addiction.

[rjsquirrel]

4. Know any ?

I know lots of white rural working class folks.

They're addicted to something without exception. Men and women. Minimally they all smoke.

Whatever, I'm not blaming white poor women for living a little less long than they used to. But I fail to see it as a crisis suddenly because it's affecting whites. Being poor takes a toll. Ask rural black women all about it.

[smirkymonkey]

5. No, sorry. I have always been urban. I can only speculate.

Just wondering why the spike in this demographic.

[rjsquirrel]

6. I grew up in it

I love a lot of rural white poor folks like family because they are.

But I shake my head at the way ignorance and poverty are mutually reinforcing.

Ask any of them if they'd move to the big city to live an extra 5 years and have a higher quality of life in general and a good job and you'll get a hell no. Outright fear and disgust.

Hatred is toxic and my theory about the spike in white rural blue collar death rates is the toxic effects of GOP hate politics over years and years. A little Rush, a little Fox, a two pack habit and a booze problem, no health insurance, and add some Oxy and you're dying young.

[smirkymonkey]

8. Thank you for your perspective.

I am sorry to hear about this. I wish there was an answer, although I'm not so sure.

[AgerolanAmerican]

26. cities don't have higher quality of life

quality of life is actually much higher out in the countryside - less stress, less expensive, less pollution, less crime

[2naSalit]

32. I agree with that

being from a mostly poor rural area.

[snooper2]

33. In Town vs. Country, It Turns Out That Cities Are the Safest Places to Live

A generation of movies have made us think that the American city is an inherently dangerous place. But a new study shows that you're more likely to die violently in the quiet countryside


http://science.time.com/2013/07/23/in-town-versus-country-it-turns-out-that-cities-are-the-safest-places-to-live/

[AgerolanAmerican]

36. story links to a nonexistent study

not sure I would trust a corporate media outlet to interpret a scientific study accurately anyway

[rjsquirrel]

43. Depends what you value

This country boy loves the city.

[AgerolanAmerican]

44. ha!

This city boy loves the country!

Just got so sick of being squeezed shoulder to shoulder all the time, standing in lines for everything, the noise, the pollution, the ridiculous cost of living, and the absence of natural beauty. Depending on the city, sometimes you can't even see the sun.

[sorefeet]

10. Sure do, I'm rural

I know several. One in particular is in real bad shape. No way she will make it through this year. She is up to 2 bottles of Southern Comfort a day, plus the cigarettes. This goes on around the clock. Only sleeps 2 hours at a time then it's up for a smoke and a drink.
Ended up in the hospital only to be back on the bottle in a couple days. She looks 9 months pregnant, her face is beet red and very scabby. Absolutely no hope for her and she doesn't want any. She used to be a wonderful person. Still is but don't care I guess. 49 years old.

[kiva]

14. Actually, women were heavily addicted to

opium in the form of laudanum from the late 18th century on...here's an interesting article about the topic: http://archives.drugabuse.gov/pdf/DARHW/033-052_Kandall.pdf

[rjsquirrel]

15. Good point

And they died young or in childbirth at shocking rates in poorer and rural communities too.

[Fumesucker]

23. Laudanum is morphine in an alcohol solution and used to be commonly available over the counter

No prescription needed...

[lumberjack_jeff]

39. Mortality rates of women in these demographics are catching up to comparable men.

Middle aged men have always died from preventable causes at greater rates than women. Women are now beginning to catch up.

[Eleanors38]

41. Well, it's the latest quick-fix explanation. Sure beats Crack©.

[wendylaroux]

7. Agree! 100% smirkymonkey,I live in the middle of it.

These people really don't care about themselves.Sad as shit.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. And Food Deserts

There aren't a lot of supermarkets that offer a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and forget about organic options. Diets are whatever you can quickly grab off the shelves like snacks and soda. If you want spaghetti sauce, you get whatever's in a jar because you just don't readily find the ingredients to make your own. Cheese is more likely processed (e.g., American and Parmesan). Diets are half the battle toward better health.

[dawg]

11. That hasn't been my experience.

I live in the rural South, and nonetheless, there are at least three modern supermarkets within ten miles or so of my house.

Fresh foods are abundantly available in my county. They are just more expensive, and more time-consuming to prepare.

[cwydro]

17. I live in a large city and also on land in a very rural area.

I work for the county in this rural area (NC) and meet all kinds of folks.

Tough as nails, most of them. They almost all grow their own veggies, have fresh eggs, and work hard.

I do see plenty who are overweight, but I see lots of those in the city too.

I grow my own veggies, I raise chickens for eggs, spend most of my time outside.

I'm in great health though I'm creeping up on 60.

[Nay]

13. It's not even the food deserts, really -- it's actually the crap in regular groceries

that are driving bad health and horrible diets, don't you think? Let's take your example of jarred spaghetti sauce -- why, exactly, is a jar of commercial spaghetti sauce bad for you, but a jar that your grandma canned is OK? I'm assuming that the ingredients like flavorings, several kinds of commercial sugars (dextrose, HFCS), yeast, soy protein, etc., make the commercial jar less healthy for you, and grandma's sauce of tomatoes, herbs, olive oil and a pinch of regular sugar is much better for you. But I also assume that a plate of spaghetti with commercial sauce and a simple salad of lettuce and cukes is much better for you than, say, a microwaved plate of frozen chicken nuggets and fries. And the nuggets are better than a plate of Fritos with squeeze cheese on top.

What I'm getting at is that even the so-called regular grocery stores are selling crap, and the grocery isn't the real problem. The problem is that we've allowed the food manufacturers to run amok with foods that aren't even foods -- fake flavored yogurt in a squeeze tube, for god's sake? And our jar of spaghetti sauce -- why can't it just contain what grandma's jar contained? Well, because there's money in distorting products so they are cheaper, appeal to deadened taste buds, etc. That's where the fight is, IMO. What do you do with a whole generation or two of kids/people who literally do not like the taste of real food? Who can only eat commercial chicken nuggets and fries? Or sugar cereal and milk? I know many, many families just like this, and I'm not in a poor neighborhood.

[dawg]

12. Prescription pain-killers are a big problem.

Also, the despair that comes from high expectations not being fulfilled.

[AgerolanAmerican]

29. I think you hit on it

the pharmaceutical culture is literally poisoning people to death, and for some reason women end up getting more drug prescriptions than men do

[lancer78]

38. Pain-killers don't kill

As shown by Chronic pain sufferers. It is when you mix them with alcohol that it becomes a problem.

[RB TexLa]

16. I'm sure all the meth doesn't help

[LanternWaste]

37. Are you sure? Quite sure...?

Are you sure? Quite sure...?

[Arugula Latte]

18. Obesity in rural areas seems to be the norm now.

I know when I get out of the city I'm struck by how the majority of people I see seem to be overweight to extremely obese.

I'm curious about the factors contributing to that.

[JI7]

19. republicans have ruined these towns with talk radio and hate

[RAFisher]

20. But why just white women?

Other people in this thread are pointing out problems with lifestyle of rural Americans. But I still can't come up with a guess why this is just effecting white women. How is it that mortality rate for middle aged black and hispanics women are decreasing while white women are skyrocketing? Genetic? Easier access to substances?

It could be skewed regionally. West Virginia is very rural and very white. The same is true for states out west; very rural and very white. While Mississippi is very rural and 40% black. The south in general is more black. Adding states to the model could show that it has less to do with race and more to do with regions. So maybe this problem is only seen in white women in the Rust Belt and West but not in the south? It just happens that the regions with the high mortality are very while. WaPo doesn't give a break down so it's harder to tell. However that might not be the case. Maybe region doesn't effect anything and race alone is correlated with higher midlife mortality in women.

[eridani]

21. White women start out from a point with higher life expectancy

Black and Latina women don't have as far to fall.

[Recursion]

22. White workers have seen a standard of living decline over the past generation; minorities haven't

Even though whites on average are still "ahead" of minorities, and the country overall is "ahead" of where it was 40 years ago, working class whites have seen their standard of living fall somewhat. And as counterintuitive as it seems, dropping from 80 to 70 (to make up numbers) is psychologically more difficult than rising from 50 to 60. Minorities have seen wage gains over the past generation and whites haven't.

[sofa king]

24. Decline in education, wages, benefits.

Last edited Mon Apr 18, 2016, 11:24 AM - Edit history (1)

Purchasing power has decreased steadily since Ronald Reagan. Education has been systematically underfunded since then. The destruction of the unions led directly to the cessation of benefits to families, so a plurality of rural Americans suddenly have substandard health care. Debt has skyrocketed.

At the same time, an astonishing percentage of advertising is for pain relievers that are known to cause severe health problems. Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen damage the kidneys, especially in combination with alcohol (which is not mentioned in ads), while opioids cause massive problems across the board. Consumers are inured to the lists of devastating prescription drug side-effects that are read off every seven minutes on television. Reading comprehension among the middle-aged is astonishingly poor and even though it's much easier today to inform one's self about the drugs they take, few do.

When super-bowl advertisers are hawking a drug that reduces oxycontin-induced constipation, you know the problem is nationwide.

As far as why rural white women over other demographics, well, the second-most affected group is rural white men, so we're talking the rural white people whose fear and racism was exploited to create the very conditions which are now killing them faster. (Edit: And why white women faster than white men? Because of the institutionalized inequality between men and women in America, of course, for which rural Republicans have also fought to keep in place.)

Both groups were formerly privileged and now they are not. They had savings and homes and jobs with benefits and now they do not. Rural minorities have long since been ostracized, sectioned off, systematically prosecuted and generally either forced into urban environments or into tight-knit rural communities that protect themselves. Minorities have been systematically attacked by white people for centuries and have developed an array of community survival techniques that the nouveau poor don't have.

A rising tide raises all boats, but the opposite is true as well: a falling tide mires everyone in the slime. Only white people are new to this phenomenon, and since they enjoyed privilege without merit, nobody gave them the skills they now need to adapt.

[QC]

25. This is a great, great post. Bravo. n/t

[sofa king]

31. Thanks. I've been harping on it for years, now.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=341720
(Note that, despite what I say in this post, the Democrats DID lose the Senate. I am hardly infallible.)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1816684

Election theft and gerrymandering is still holding up a Republican advantage. But as I said three and a half years ago:

As working class jobs are eliminated in Republican-controlled rural communities, those reliably Republican people will gravitate toward higher population areas that offer menial jobs and better services, and they will convert or be canceled out by more sensible voters.

Or, sadly, the more intransigent ones will remain behind, sink into life-threatening poverty, and die sooner than they should.

I feel compelled to add that we bear considerable responsibility for this human tragedy, by not stopping election theft and gerrymandering, by not defending unions, by not demanding a livable minimum wage, by allowing banks to steal peoples' homes and savings, by not passing single-payer health care. It's killing all of us, too, maybe not quite as fast but just as dead. The only winners are those too rich to be negatively impacted.

[Eleanors38]

42. Some folks here need a quick primer: "Deer Hunting With Jesus."

How quick we are to look at instant, surface causes like addiction & bad diet or poor self-image. Most progressives should look for more enduring problems, like lack of good education, job opportunity, or hope that a political party or outlook might give a shit. Why, it can drive you to drink.

[Aristus]

27. Quitting smoking=saving money and living longer.

How come nobody listens to me when I say this? I've got a medical license and everything.

If you walk through the clinic door, I'm assuming you came in for medical advice. So why don't you follow this simply phrased and easy to understand piece of advice?:

STOP SMOKING.

[My Good Babushka]

28. Inequality and poverty is a plague.

It causes hopelessness, drug use, bad judgment and sickness. I'm sure many will find it convenient to blame the individuals instead of the class war, the diminished security, and the decades of rapacious attacks against labor and human rights.

[hunter]

30. The U.S.A. is following the Russian model for negative population growth...

... which is to let the people abandoned by the oligarchy slowly kill themselves.

The uber-wealthy (and even many affluent people still connected to the oligarchy) don't want these desperate and abandoned people spoiling their view. And they certainly don't want to give up any of their personal wealth to improve life for everyone.

[LongTomH]

34. Wilson and Pickett addressed this in The Spirit Level - written in 2009

The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better was published in 2009. Written by Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, the book highlights the "pernicious effects that inequality has on societies: eroding trust, increasing anxiety and illness, (and) encouraging excessive consumption". It shows that for each of eleven different health and social problems: physical health, mental health, drug abuse, education, imprisonment, obesity, social mobility, trust and community life, violence, teenage pregnancies, and child well-being, outcomes are significantly worse in more unequal rich countries.

As of September 2012, the book had sold more than 150,000 copies in English. It is available in 23 foreign editions.

The authors used the methodology of epidemiology to study the effects of living in an unequal society. Health is impacted negatively in the areas of obesity, drug abuse and health and well being in general.

The study was originally done for the UK, which is a society with a great deal of inequality; but, the authors do discuss other rich-but-unequal-countries like the US. The US edition of The Spirit Level has charts showing differences in levels of equality / inequality and different outcomes for US states.

[ridgenvalley]

35. K&R

[HereSince1628]

40. Reading old medical narratives from the last 1/4 of the 19th century...

it's interesting how opiod abuse was common in women while heavy drinking was less so. Apparently, buying liquor carried stigmat, buying prescription opioid remedies, not so much.

Bad times are pretty tough for people's health. Currently suicides among both sexes of rural middle aged folks are way way up.