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Contrary to a national study published last month, female death rates for Radford and Pulaski County are consistent with the state as a whole and not significantly higher, according to research conducted by the New River Health District.

The research was part of a scramble after April 22 to make sense of the national study's conclusion that women in Radford and Pulaski County had one of the most dramatic drops in life expectancy in the country during the period of 1983 to 1999.

The study, published in the online journal of the Public Library of Science, speculated that the five-year drop in life expectancy was because of increases in chronic diseases resulting from smoking, obesity and other preventable causes.

Robert Parker, the Virginia Department of Health's Southwest regional public information officer, said the state's analysis of more recent data isn't so foreboding.

Parker said statistics from 2001 to 2005 showing the death rates for the top 14 leading causes of death for Virginia women found that female death rates for Radford and Pulaski County are consistent with the state as a whole.

"None of Radford's death rates were significantly higher," he said in an e-mail. "However, in Pulaski there were some exceptions, both higher and lower. Death rates for heart disease, suicide and unintentional injury were significantly higher than the state average. But death rates for stroke -- the leading cause of death for women nationally -- were significantly lower. Even though some death rates in Pulaski were significantly higher, they were still lower than other areas of Southwest Virginia."

Dr. Jody Hershey, health district director, sent a letter last week to Radford City Manager Tony Cox and Pulaski County Administrator Peter Huber, as well as other state and local officials. In it, he outlined findings from the research conducted by the New River Health District with assistance from the state's Office of Epidemiology, Office of Information Management, Division of Vital Records, Division of Health Statistics and the Virginia Cancer Registry.

"It is important to note that life expectancy and death rates are different statistics," Hershey said. "While life expectancy is the length of time a child born today can expect to live, death rate is a measure of the fatalities within a population and refers to the ages and causes of death for those who are deceased. They are linked, but not necessarily directly."

The national study, conducted by researchers at Harvard, the University of California and the University of Washington, used mortality statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics and population numbers from the U.S. Census to estimate gender-specific life expectancy in counties across the country. The city of Radford and Pulaski County were grouped together, as were other localities, to form units with a total population of at least 10,000 males and 10,000 females.

Overall, the study found the trend toward lower life expectancy for women in certain rural areas -- something that didn't come as a surprise to Hershey.

"Public health and other health professionals have known for years that people in Southwest Virginia (and other rural areas across the nation) have higher rates of chronic disease illness and in death and poorer overall health outcomes than their urban counterparts," he wrote in his letter.

Huber said while he thinks the issue of women's health in the county needs to be a priority, he believes the national study was already outdated when it was released last month.

"I'm encouraged that the high numbers were a little bit of a fluke as far as the timing of the report," he said. "A lot has happened in the last eight years."

Huber said Pulaski County has made major strides in the past decade when it comes to recreational opportunities. He pointed out that Randolph Park, a park popular with walkers, swimmers and runners, was completed in 2000.

"It's important to keep in mind that the study was done from 1983 to 1999," he said. "And it's important to take a look at what's happened since then."

Hershey said people in rural areas have definite barriers to achieving good health. He noted lower numbers of health-care providers, longer distances to doctors and hospitals, fewer people with health insurance and fewer specialty clinics.

While the barriers affect usage of preventive health services, Hershey noted that "rural areas often have low use of preventive health services even if such services are available and accessible."

How, then, do rural localities help residents understand the urgency of correcting lifestyle problems?

"I have made my career out of working for the under served and the high-risk population," Hershey said in a recent interview.

"We still need to keep pushing that prevention message."

Huber said Hershey's letter and the research provided by the New River Health District helped quiet concerns raised last month, but he said he hopes there will be continued mindfulness of health issues in Pulaski County.

"I think it's something we all need to pay attention to," he said, "but I think it's important for people to realize it's not all gloom and doom."