Rural Heart Health Study Seeks Answers in the South

Darrell Dixon, motivated by his father's heart disease and premature death, joins a major health study. Public health experts aim to understand why heart and lung disease rates are higher in the rural South. Using a mobile medical trailer, they test thousands of residents, exploring environmental and lifestyle factors.

Darrell Dixon's father, at just 25, had a major heart attack in the rural Mississippi Delta. By his early 40s, repeated attacks had left his heart too weak, leading to his death in 2013 at age 49.

"It was a big jolt for our family," Dixon, 36, recalled. "For myself, personally, it also got me thinking about heredity. I just wondered whether I was next."

The tragedy spurred Dixon to participate in a new health study. Public health experts from leading research institutions have launched a medical trailer to test thousands of rural Southern residents. Their goal: to understand why heart and lung disease rates are higher there. "This rural health disadvantage, it doesn't matter whether you're white or Black, it hurts you," said Dr. Vasan Ramachandran, leading the project.

(With inputs from agencies.)