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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Environmental health

MotherToBaby Gives Rural Pregnant and Breastfeeding Moms 'Fingertip Access' to Exposure Experts
Provides an overview of MotherToBaby, which works to educate pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and their healthcare providers on the risks of exposures. Discusses how MotherToBaby's free services can support rural mothers, highlighting programs serving rural areas in Georgia and North Texas.
Author(s): Gretel Kauffman
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 11/2023
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Rural-Urban Disparities in Health Outcomes, Clinical Care, Health Behaviors, and Social Determinants of Health and an Action-Oriented, Dynamic Tool for Visualizing Them
Examines county-level disparities in rural and urban health outcomes and presents a health equity dashboard depicting the disparities. Utilizes 2015 and 2019 County Health Rankings datasets to analyze measures such as health outcomes, clinical care, health behaviors, physical environment, and social and economic factors according to urban, suburban, and rural location.
Author(s): William B. Weeks, Ji E. Chang, José A. Pagán, et al.
Citation: PLOS Global Public Health, 3(10)
Date: 10/2023
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"This Is Not My Grandmother's Summer": Mitigating the Health Impacts of Extreme Heat in Rural Communities
Discusses the challenges rural areas face in helping address the impact of heat on health. Includes strategies used in rural North Carolina, Indiana, and Washington State to help inform and protect rural residents, including those exposed to heat through work outdoors.
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 09/2023
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Report to Congress on the Outcome Evaluations of Administration for Native Americans Projects
Provides an overview of 2020 Administration for Native Americans (ANA) projects, with a focus on each project's goals, objectives, accomplishments, and relevant data. Summarizes 33 projects that aim to promote social/cultural, environmental, and economic health and sustainability in American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations, with several projects addressing population health in rural areas. Discusses the impacts of COVID-19 on ANA projects.
Date: 09/2023
Sponsoring organization: Administration for Children and Families
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The State of Our Health: A Statewide Health Assessment of Pennsylvania, August 2023 Update
Identifies specific health challenges in Pennsylvania and indicates where the largest improvements can be made. Features sections on social determinants of health, access to care, substance use, chronic diseases, mental health, maternal and infant health, injury and violence prevention, infectious diseases and immunization, Health Professional Shortage Areas, and environmental health. Includes references to rural throughout.
Date: 08/2023
Sponsoring organization: Pennsylvania Department of Health
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The Association of Forced Expiratory Volume in One Second with Occupational Exposures in a Longitudinal Study of Adults in a Rural Community in Iowa
Examines the impact of occupational vapor–gas, dust, and fumes (VGDF) exposures and cigarette smoke on respiratory health. Provides data on 1,071 adults living in rural Iowa according to health status, health behaviors, and lifetime VGDF exposures. Discusses the health implications of work-related VGDF exposures.
Author(s): Paul K. Henneberger, Steven M. Rollins, Michael J. Humann, et al.
Citation: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 96(6), 919-930
Date: 08/2023
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Socioeconomic and Environmental Determinants of Asthma Prevalence: A Cross-sectional Study at the U.S. County Level Using Geographically Weighted Random Forests
Examines ecological associations of asthma by social and physical determinants at the county level. Includes U.S. maps that depict asthma prevalence as well as determinants such as smoking prevalence, depression prevalence, poverty, insurance rates, and more, which are further analyzed to depict their correlation with asthma.
Author(s): Aynaz Lotfata, Mohammad Moosazadeh, Marco Helbich, Benyamin Hoseini
Citation: International Journal of Health Geographics, 22, 18
Date: 08/2023
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An Active Roadmap: Best Practices in Rural Mobility
Provides a literature review and cases studies related to the ways rural communities encourage health-focused infrastructure, multimodal transportation, economic development, and environmentally safe practices. Describes the typology and demographics of rural areas and discusses how transportation is linked to wellness and community health outcomes.
Date: 07/2023
Sponsoring organizations: Smart Growth America, The National Complete Streets Coalition
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Developing a National-Scale Exposure Index for Combined Environmental Hazards and Social Stressors and Applications to the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort
Discusses the process of building an index to assess environmental hazards and social stressors on pregnancy. Utilizes factors such as pollution, lack of green space, social economic status, social vulnerability, race/ethnicity, metro versus non-metro location, and more to define exposure risk.
Author(s): Sheena E. Martenies, Mingyu Zhang, Anne E. Corrigan, et al.
Citation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(14), 6339
Date: 07/2023
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Telemedicine and the Carbon Footprint of Healthcare: An Empirical Analysis of Illinois Counties
Examines the impact of telemedicine on reducing carbon emissions in Illinois. Provides metro versus nonmetro estimates as well as county-level estimates of carbon emissions savings in both outpatient and hospital settings.
Author(s): Adee Athiyaman
Date: 07/2023
Sponsoring organization: Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs
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