title: Heart Failure in Rural Communities.
abstract: Patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) living in rural areas face an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. Even in countries with universal access to health care, rural areas are characteristically underserved, with reduced health care providers supply, greater distance to health care centers, decreased physician density with higher reliance on generalists, and high health care staff turnover. On the other hand, patient-related characteristics vary widely among published data. This review describes the epidemiology of CHF in rural or remote settings, organizational and patient-related factors involved in cardiovascular outcomes, and the role of interventions to improve rural health care.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases FONDAP ACCDis, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Marcoleta 367, CP 8330024, Santiago, Chile. Electronic address: hverdejo@med.puc.cl.
authors.forename: Hugo E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Verdejo
authors.affiliation: Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases FONDAP ACCDis, Division of Public Health and Family Medicine, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Marcoleta 434, CP 8330073, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Catterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferreccio
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases FONDAP ACCDis, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Marcoleta 367, CP 8330024, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Pablo F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Castro
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D012423:Rural Health; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D012424:Rural Population; D017216:Telemedicine
keywords: Health care disparities; Heart failure; Rural health