Ahmad K, Chen EW, Nazir U, et al. - Given that heart failure (HF) mortality across the United States differs significantly by geographical location, researchers focused on the link between county socioeconomic factors and HF mortality in this cross-sectional analysis. They also compared it with coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality. This study included 3,135 US counties from 2010 to 2015. A frequency-weighted, demographic-adjusted, multivariate regression model revealed a rise in HF mortality by 5.2 deaths/100 000 in correlation with each percentage increase in county poverty prevalence. County poverty was identified as the strongest socioeconomic factor that was related to HF and CHD mortality, a link that was stronger with HF vs with CHD and differed by census region; this link was the strongest in the South and weakest in the Northeast. Variations in the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and obesity across the counties explained over half of the association. Health differences attributed to socioeconomic factors may be minimized via health policies targeting improvement in these risk factors.