Women’s Health in Rural American Communities

Limited data have been published on the status of women’s health in rural areas, particularly pertaining to women of color and rural women in the United States. The aim of this review is to briefly describe the trends in women’s health in rural areas, the factors contributing to poor health outcomes and potential ways to focus improvements most effectively. To provide this overview, approximately 310 articles were screened by full text on the database PubMed. Of these, 27 articles are described in more detail in this piece. Data focus on women’s health in the United States and include information bulletin reports and individual studies centered around the topic of interest. The literature clearly illustrates that living in rural areas comes with certain limitations, lifestyle accommodations and behaviors that can lead to negative health outcomes for women in the rural United States.