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Published on: April 19, 2019
Matters of the heart: cardiovascular disease and rural nursing
Pamela Stewart Fahs1, Melanie Kalman
1Decker School of Nursing, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, USA.
Insights
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) research in rural areas is limited, especially regarding prevalence and effective interventions for women. More powerful intervention studies are needed to improve rural health outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Nursing Research
- Cardiovascular Epidemiology
Background:
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death globally and in the US.
- Prevalence data for CVD in rural populations is scarce in national datasets.
- Rural nursing practice requires evidence-based information on CVD specific to rural dwellers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the existing literature on cardiovascular disease in rural populations.
- To emphasize studies focusing on rural women and their cardiovascular health.
- To identify gaps in research regarding CVD prevalence, risk factors, and interventions in rural settings.
Main Methods:
- A comprehensive literature review of 134 research articles published between 2000 and 2007.
- Analysis of studies related to CVD awareness, heart failure, hypertension, stroke, myocardial infarction, mortality, and risk factors in rural populations.
- Specific focus on research including or limited to rural women.
Main Results:
- Most CVD research in rural populations features small sample sizes and is descriptive.
- There is a significant lack of national-level prevalence data for CVD in rural areas.
- Limited research exists on interventions to reduce CVD risks and physiological markers using large rural samples.
Conclusions:
- The current body of CVD literature for rural populations is insufficient for evidence-based practice, particularly for interventions.
- Future nursing research must transition from descriptive studies to robust intervention trials with adequate statistical power.
- Addressing CVD in rural women requires more targeted and powerful research to improve health outcomes.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States and around the world. Most of the work done on CVD among rural populations uses mortality versus prevalence rates because prevalence data for rural populations is difficult, if not impossible, to find in national data sets as currently published. Cardiovascular disease is a significant threat to rural dwellers and those in rural nursing need evidence on which to base their practice. This chapter provides an examination of the CVD literature as it relates to rural populations with an emphasis on studies that include or are limited to rural women as subjects. Topics reviewed included: awareness and symptoms of heart disease among women, heart failure (HF) in rural women, hypertension (HTN) in rural areas, stroke in rural populations, quality care in acute myocardial infarction (MI) in rural facilities, mortality and CVD, and CVD risk factors in rural populations. The authors reviewed 134 research articles published between 2000 and 2007. Overall, the CVD research literature in rural populations has small sample sizes, except for epidemiologic studies, and tends to be descriptive in nature. There is a dearth of literature on prevalence among rural populations from a national perspective and little is written on interventions to reduce CVD risks and physiological markers that include large samples from rural populations. Future nursing research on CVD in rural populations needs to move beyond the descriptive to intervention studies, which need to be robust in power to guard against Type II errors.
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