RURAL Heart and Lung Study

The Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal (RURAL) Cohort Study is a six-year research project seeking to identify why some people in the rural south may live shorter and less healthy lives.

Focusing on 10 rural counties in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi, the research team will examine about 4,600 residents to study different aspects of their heart, lung, and general health.

The RURAL study includes teams of scientists from 16 different institutions, including Pennington Biomedical. To gather the research data in Louisiana, a special vehicle – the mobile examination unit – traveled to both Assumption and Franklin parishes in 2024.

Collecting data from 460 Assumption Parish adults, each participant spent approximately three hours in the unit, answering questions and going through a variety of screenings, including urine and blood collection to measure blood sugar and cholesterol, an echocardiogram, a CT scan, and a pulmonary function test. The same participants will be evaluated again in 2028 to see how their health has evolved over time.

The Louisiana Core of the RURAL Cohort Study is based out of LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center under the leadership of Stephanie Broyles, PhD, along with her colleagues, Corby Martin, PhD, and Denise Holston, PhD, of the LSU AgCenter. The core is responsible for leading the community engagement efforts within the state of Louisiana, including assisting in the recruitment of participants in two parishes in Louisiana.