West Virginia Rural Health Research Center

Research Products & Journal Articles

Browse the full list of research publications from this Rural Health Research Center.

Products – Freely accessible products include policy briefs, fact sheets, full reports, chartbooks, and interactive data websites.

Journal Articles – Articles in peer-reviewed journals may require a subscription or affiliation with a subscribing library. For these publications, Gateway lists the article citation, a brief summary, a link to additional information and access to the full-text of the article, if available.

2013

The Current State of Agricultural Health Research and Practice: Critical Review (Final Report)
Date: 09/2013
The report provides an overview of the present state of agricultural health research for healthcare policy makers and providers.
Rates of Black Lung Disease in Relationship to Black Lung Treatment Centers (Full Report)
Date: 08/2013
This report investigates the rates of black lung disease among active miners in relationship to the location of Black Lung Clinics.
Promotion and Protection of Rural Miner Health: Are the Resources in Place? (Final Report)
Date: 06/2013
This report shows that mining areas in the United States, compared to non-mining areas, have on average better supplies of safety net providers, hospitals, and practicing primary care physicians. However, the study results support the need to examine the availability of safety net provider types in selected geographic areas where mining is done.
The Rural H1N1 Experience: Lessons Learned for Future Pandemics
Date: 06/2013
This report describes the rural H1N1 experience, including comparisons of rural versus urban H1N1 vaccination rates, and describes rural H1N1 incidence, care patterns, and mortality.
Agricultural Health Training for Rural America
Date: 02/2013
This report locates agricultural health programs and courses and describes collaborations that exist between clinicians and agriculture-related agencies.

2012

Childhood Asthma in Rural-Urban Areas
Policy Brief
Date: 06/2012
This policy brief examines how asthma may be related to rural areas adjacent or non-adjacent to larger population centers, to variation in measures of air quality, to varying levels of agricultural and animal production, and to other characteristics such as obesity, race/ethnicity, or health insurance.
Childhood Asthma in Rural-Urban Areas (Final Report)
Date: 05/2012
This report examines how asthma may be related to rural areas adjacent or non-adjacent to larger population centers, to variation in measures of air quality, to varying levels of agricultural and animal production, and to other characteristics such as obesity, race/ethnicity, or health insurance.
Water Fluoridation and Dental Health Indicators in Rural and Urban Areas of the United States
Policy Brief
Date: 01/2012
This policy brief investigates the availability of fluoridated water across urban and rural settings.

2011

Environmental Workforce Characteristics in the Rural Public Health Sector
Policy Brief
Date: 12/2011
This project analyzed the environmental workforce characteristics of the rural public health sector to inform policy relative to coordination of rural environmental health services.
Environmental Workforce Characteristics in the Rural Public Health Sector (Final Report)
Date: 12/2011
This project analyzed the environmental workforce characteristics of the rural public health sector to inform policy relative to coordination of rural environmental health services.
Water Fluoridation and Dental Health Indicators in Rural and Urban Areas of the United States (Final Report)
Date: 11/2011
This study investigated the availability of fluoridated water across urban-rural settings and relates measures of fluoride availability to national survey measures of dental health in adults and children.
A Rural Socioeconomic Vulnerability and Resiliency Index and Associated Health Outcomes
Policy Brief
Date: 07/2011
These analyses provide evidence to support the development of programs and policies that foster educational development, and economic diversity and vitality, as means of public health improvement, especially in rural areas in selected regions of the country.
Patterns of Food Insecurity, Food Availability, and Health Outcomes Among Rural and Urban Counties
Policy Brief
Date: 06/2011
This project will examine rural and urban food security/availability. It will test the hypotheses that food insecurity will differ significantly between rural/urban counties and that there will be a significant relationship between food insecurity and availability and selected adverse health outcomes in non-metropolitan counties.
Patterns of Food Insecurity, Food Availability, and Health Outcomes Among Rural and Urban Counties (Final Report)
Date: 06/2011
Rural counties are disproportionately associated with high food insecurity risk relative to urban counties. Programs and policies may focus on improving food availability and access for rural populations.
A Rural Socioeconomic Risk and Resiliency Inventory and Associated Health Outcomes (Final Report)
Date: 03/2011
Rural areas, especially in the Southeast, Appalachia, and parts of the West, have worse VRI (Vulnerability and Resiliency Index) scores, which are a measure of six socioeconomic indicators across counties in the United States.

2010

Toxics Release Inventory Discharges and Population Health Outcomes in Rural and Urban Areas of the United States (Final Report)
Date: 08/2010
This report examined if chemical releases from facilities monitored in the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program were associated with population mortality rates and birth outcomes for rural/urban populations. It also examined whether rural/urban areas with poor socioeconomic status or higher percentages of minorities had greater TRI releases.
Key Environmental Health Competencies for Rural Primary Care Providers
Policy Brief
Date: 05/2010
Providing healthcare that considers environmental determinants of health, environmental impact on health, and outcomes attributed to environmental issues is complex because of the need for providers to be competent not only in social and health sciences, but also in environmental health concepts.
Key Environmental Health Competencies for Rural Primary Care Providers (Final Report)
Date: 03/2010
The purpose of this study was to develop a set of basic environmental health competencies that are needed by all rural primary care providers to direct healthcare and education policy.
Pollution Sources and Mortality Rates across Rural-Urban Areas in the United States
Policy Brief
Date: 02/2010
Rural counties contain more than 65,000 EPA-recognized point pollution sources. A greater density of water and air pollution sources in rural counties is associated with higher cancer mortality rates, adjusting for other risks. Rural areas also experience mortality risks in association with coal mining activity.
Pollution Sources and Mortality Rates across Rural-Urban Areas in the United States (Final Report)
Date: 02/2010
Rural counties contain more than 65,000 EPA-recognized point pollution sources. A greater density of water and air pollution sources in rural counties is associated with higher cancer mortality rates, adjusting for other risks. Rural areas also experience mortality risks in association with coal mining activity.
Toxics Release Inventory Discharges and Population Health Outcomes in Rural and Urban Areas of the United States
Policy Brief
Date: 2010

Examined whether chemical releases from facilities monitored through the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program were associated with population mortality rates for both rural and urban populations.