In Harlan County, one of the state's primary coal counties, the average man has a life expectancy of 67.8 years – the lowest in the state and more than six years less than the average Appalachian resident who lives to 75, according to a Harvard School of Public Health report.
In eastern Kentucky, men in 14 counties have life expectancies lower than 70, according to the report, which used government statistics dating from 1980 through 1999. The life span for the average Kentuckian was 75.2 over the period, Associated Press said.
Several issues contributed to the reduced life expectancy in the Kentucky coal fields, said John Strosnider, dean of the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine, which opened 10 years ago to educate physicians to serve in the Appalachian region.
The Appalachian region has just one primary care physician for every 1200 people, which falls far short of the standard in urban areas of one for every 900 people, Associated Press said.
Strosnider said more doctors are needed in the region, but he said the shorter life spans in Appalachia could also be linked to poverty, low educational attainment, dangerous roads and hazardous jobs, especially in the coal mines.
Fran Feltner, a nurse at the Kentucky Center for Rural Health in Hazard, told Associated Press that men in the coal fields will often not see a doctor until they're "very sick", even though jobs in the coal mines, coupled with smoking and overeating, create health problems that need to be dealt with sooner rather than later.
That reluctance to address health concerns, Feltner said, can contribute to shorter lives.
Women in the western Kentucky counties of Green and Larue lived the longest, according to the report.
The average life expectancy for living in those areas was 80.6 years, followed by Jessamine County at 80.3 and Calloway at 80.1.
Other eastern Kentucky counties with life expectancies lower than 70 for men include Clay, Floyd, Knott, Knox, Lawrence, Leslie, Letcher, Martin, Menifee, Perry, Pike, Whitley and Wolfe, Associated Press said.
