An analysis of death certificate data for more than 11 million U.S. adults from 2010 to 2022 found that cardiovascular disease death rates increased by about 21% for adults ages 25-64 living in rural areas, however, the rates declined by about 9% for adults ages 65 or older living in urban areas. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, cardiovascular death rates increased significantly more in rural compared to urban areas, a consistent finding across all ages.

Heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity were more common and linked to reduced access to healthy food among people who lived in neighborhoods previously subjected to structural racism-based policies that limited home ownership — an outlawed practice known as redlining.

A central issue at the UN Climate Change Conference, set to start on November 11, will be the negotiations on new payments from industrialized nations to poorer countries. However, the question of whether and how these payments will be financed remains highly controversial. The study by an international team of researchers, with participation by the Technical University of Munich (TUM), has now revealed: The windfall profits alone taken in by oil and gas companies due to the 2022 energy crisis would have been sufficient to cover the existing commitments of the industrialized nations for nearly five years. The researchers therefore recommend collecting taxes on these so-called windfall profits from fossil fuels.

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of pregnancy-associated homicide rates, barriers to divorce were associated with higher homicide rates and access to reproductive health care was associated with lower homicide rates. This study highlights the association between state legislation and pregnancy-associated homicide in the U.S., which is important information for policymakers.