{"id":3485,"date":"2026-08-24T20:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T20:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/?p=3485"},"modified":"2026-08-24T20:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T20:15:08","slug":"copd-in-rural-america-healthywomen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/?p=3485","title":{"rendered":"COPD in Rural America &#8211; HealthyWomen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.healthywomen.org\/media-library\/navigating-copd-in-rural-america.png?id=67669102&amp;width=980\" \/><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding:10px\">\n<p>1 in 5 Americans live in a rural area.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>Rural Americans face more health challenges than people living in cities and difficulties getting healthcare because of:     <\/p>\n<ul class=\"ee-ul\">\n<li>\n<p>Clinician shortages <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Hospital closings <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Long distances to get to hospitals, specialists and pharmacies <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Lack of public transportation\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These factors make it harder to live with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthywomen.org\/condition\/facts-about-copd\">COPD<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What Is COPD?     <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is a progressive lung condition that causes inflammation of the airways, making it hard to breathe. <\/p>\n<p>COPD is the 5th leading cause of death in the U.S.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p><strong>COPD in Rural Areas     <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1 in 12 of people in rural areas have COPD compared to 1 in 20 in urban areas.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Compared to people who live in cities, people in rural areas are:     <\/p>\n<ul class=\"ee-ul\">\n<li>\n<p>2x as likely to have COPD <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>More likely to go to the hospital for COPD <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>More likely to die from COPD <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why COPD Is Worse in Rural Areas     <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>People in rural areas:     <\/p>\n<ul class=\"ee-ul\">\n<li>\n<p>Are more likely to smoke\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Have fewer stop-smoking programs <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Are more likely to work in industries that expose them to pollutants <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Live with more indoor pollution from burning wood or coal for heating or cooking <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Have more medical problems that can make COPD worse <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Have less money to afford medications to treat COPD <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Are more likely to not have health insurance <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Have less access to healthcare, including specialists who treat COPD <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>May have more trouble getting diagnosed and treated for COPD <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>How to Manage COPD in Rural America     <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"ee-ul\">\n<li>\n<p>Use telehealth for: <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<ul class=\"ee-ul\">\n<li>\n<p>Remote monitoring to track symptoms, trends and triggers <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Digital pulmonary rehab to learn strategies <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Routine and time-sensitive care <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<ul class=\"ee-ul\">\n<li>\n<p>Advocate for yourself\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<ul class=\"ee-ul\">\n<li>\n<p>You may have to look harder or travel farther for a lung specialist. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Most health insurance (including the VA and Medicaid) have to offer specialists within a certain travel time or distance. If they don\u2019t, you can get an exception to see someone out of the insurance network (but you have to request it). <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Find free or lower-cost care from rural and federally qualified health centers.                 <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Remember: You ALWAYS have the right to emergency care. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Resources <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>American Lung Association \u2013 My COPD Action Plan <\/p>\n<p>COPD Action Alliance \u2013 Veterans and COPD <\/p>\n<p>COPD Foundation \u2013 My COPD Action Plan <\/p>\n<p><em>This educational resource was created with support from Chiesi, Sanofi and Regeneron. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthywomen.org\/condition\/copd-in-rural-america\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1 in 5 Americans live in a rural area.\u00a0 Rural Americans face more health challenges than people living in cities and difficulties getting healthcare because of: Clinician shortages Hospital closings Long distances to get to hospitals, specialists and pharmacies Lack of public transportation\u00a0 These factors make it harder to live with COPD. What Is COPD? COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is a progressive lung condition that causes inflammation of the airways, making it hard to breathe. COPD is the 5th leading cause of death in the U.S.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 COPD in Rural Areas 1 in 12 of people in rural areas have COPD compared to 1 in 20 in urban areas.\u00a0 \u00a0Compared to people who live in cities, people in rural areas are: 2x as likely to have COPD More likely to go to the hospital for COPD More likely to die from COPD Why COPD Is Worse in Rural Areas People in rural areas: Are more likely to smoke\u00a0 Have fewer stop-smoking programs Are more likely to work in industries that expose them to pollutants Live with more indoor pollution from burning wood or coal for heating or cooking Have more medical problems that can make COPD worse Have less money to afford medications to treat COPD Are more likely to not have health insurance Have less access to healthcare, including specialists who treat COPD May have more trouble getting diagnosed and treated for COPD How to Manage COPD in Rural America Use telehealth for: Remote monitoring to track symptoms, trends and triggers Digital pulmonary rehab to learn strategies Routine and time-sensitive care Advocate for yourself\u00a0 You may have to look harder or travel farther for a lung specialist. Most health insurance (including the VA and Medicaid) have to offer specialists within a certain travel time or distance. If they don\u2019t, you can get an exception to see someone out of the insurance network (but you have to request it). Find free or lower-cost care from rural and federally qualified health centers. Remember: You ALWAYS have the right to emergency care. Resources American Lung Association \u2013 My COPD Action Plan COPD Action Alliance \u2013 Veterans and COPD COPD Foundation \u2013 My COPD Action Plan This educational resource was created with support from Chiesi, Sanofi and Regeneron. Source link<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drsoniafawad.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}