Rural-Urban Disparities in Cardiovascular Disease Mortality Among Middle-Age Men in China

Rural-urban health disparities are still poorly understood, due to a considerable gap in knowledge, while a looming heart disease and stroke epidemic in China has caused global concern. This report attempts to fill in the knowledge gaps to examine if rural-urban disparities in heart disease and stroke mortality have widened, which population cohorts have experienced the greatest mortality growth and disparities, and if rurality still matters in China. Age-specific data from 2002 to 2016 published in the China Health Yearbooks were analyzed with the Joinpoint Regression Program. The results reveal that China faces a fast growing cardiovascular disease epidemic with widening rural-urban disparities. Rural death rates have grown higher than urban rates along with fast rising rural mortality, and the fastest increasing rates are found among rural men in younger age groups. These findings inspire further research into the causes of the disparities.