UVA Health experts trying to reduce cancer death rates in rural areas

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Experts at UVA Health say people in rural areas tend to face substantially higher cancer death rates than those in urban areas.

It isn’t a big surprise, but UVA says the main reason people in rural areas tend to suffer more has to do with access to care.

Linda Duska is a professor at the UVA School of Medicine. She says less access tends to lead to more problems.

“They have a higher rate of diabetes, a higher rate of heart disease, and obesity,” Duska said Wednesday, April 3.

She also says people in rural areas have less access to clinical trials.

“Clinical trials give people the opportunity to get novel therapies for their cancer that they might otherwise not have access to, which is really great. And for those of us that do clinical trials, it’s really important to us that we accrue a diverse group of individuals,” the professor said.

That is what this work is centered around; coming up with ways to bring personalized care directly to rural patients.

“We want to increase their access to specialty care at state-of-the-art care. And so with these ideas of screening and testing high-risk patients, catching their cancer sooner, or even preventing them all together, right, all of these things together will help improve the health of rural individuals,” she said.

Duska says some options include bringing clinical trials directly to rural communities or doing them remotely via Zoom.

RELATED:

• UVA Center for Telehealth expands in southern Albemarle
• UVA using grant funds to help people in rural communities lose weight
• UVA Health seeks to improve telehealth services
• UVA Health program aims to reduce health disparities
• UVA Health increasing EMS training opportunities in rural areas
• UVA Health teams up with other groups to help rural Virginia
• Telehealth use increased during pandemic, may be here to stay

Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.