Medical desert is a term used to describe regions whose population has inadequate access to healthcare.[1] The term can be applied whether the lack of healthcare is general or in a specific field, such as dental or pharmaceutical.[2] It is primarily used to describe rural areas although it is sometimes applied to urban areas as well.[2] The term is inspired by the analogous concept of a food desert.[1]

United States

An estimated 30 million Americans, many in rural regions of the country, live at least 60 minutes drive from a hospital with trauma care services.[3] Limited access to emergency room services, as well as medical specialists, leads to increases in mortality rates and long-term health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes.[4][5] Medicare, Medicaid, and uninsured patients are less likely than others to live within an hour's drive of a hospital emergency room.[3]

Since 1975, over 1,000 hospitals, many in rural regions, have closed their doors because they are unable to bear the cost of care of uninsured patients.[6] That has required some patients in every state to drive at least an hour to a hospital emergency room. The problem poses an even greater danger during the COVID-19 pandemic, when patients in respiratory distress urgently need oxygen[7] and can ill afford an hour-long ambulance ride to reach a hospital. In addition to the immediate financial problems facing rural healthcare providers, inequities in rural healthcare are further aggravated by the disproportionately low number of newly-graduated doctors applying for positions in rural areas.

Although concentrated in rural regions, health care deserts also exist in urban and suburban areas, particularly in Black-majority census tracts in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.[8] Medical literature addressing health disparities in urban centers has applied the term medical desert to areas that are more than five miles from the nearest acute care facility.[8] Racial demographic disparities in healthcare access are also present in rural areas, particularly with Native Americans living in rural areas receiving inadequate medical care.[9][10]

Pharmacy deserts have developed in some urban areas,[11][12] a situation that has increased the challenge of distributing and administering vaccines for the COVID-19 pandemic.[13][14][15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Chevillard, Guillaume; Lucas-Gabrielli, Véronique; Mousquès, Julien (2018). Dill, Lan (ed.). "Medical deserts in France: Current state of research and future trends". L'Espace Géographique. 47: 362–380. doi:10.3917/eg.474.0362. S2CID 165353742 – via CAIRN.
  2. 1 2 Garcia, Estevan (2018-09-01). "THE URBAN FOOD DESERT AS A MODEL FOR THE URBAN HEALTH CARE DESERT: FUNDAMENTAL CAUSES AND ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS". Dissertations and Theses.
  3. 1 2 Carr, Brendan; Bowman, Ariel; Wolff, Catherine; Mullen, Michael T.; Holena, Daniel; Branas, Charles C.; Wiebe, Douglas (2017). "Disparities in Access to Trauma Care in the United States: A Population-Based Analysis". Injury. 48 (2): 332–338. doi:10.1016/j.injury.2017.01.008. ISSN 0020-1383. PMC 5292279. PMID 28069138.
  4. ↑ "Poor Access to a Trauma Center Linked to Higher Prehospital Death Rates in More Than Half of U.S. States". American College of Surgeons. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  5. ↑ "About Rural Health Care - NRHA". www.ruralhealthweb.org. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  6. ↑ "Hospital Closings Likely to Increase". Official web site of the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration. 2017-10-16. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  7. ↑ "Neighborhoods With 'Medical Deserts' Have Emergency Needs During COVID Pandemic". The Baltimore Times, Inc. Positive Stories. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  8. 1 2 Tung, Elizabeth L.; Hampton, David A.; Kolak, Marynia; Rogers, Selwyn O.; Yang, Joyce P.; Peek, Monica E. (2019-03-01). "Race/Ethnicity and Geographic Access to Urban Trauma Care". JAMA Network Open. 2 (3): e190138. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.0138. PMC 6484639. PMID 30848804.
  9. ↑ Friedman, Misha (13 April 2016). "For Native Americans, Health Care Is A Long, Hard Road Away". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  10. ↑ "Why Care at Native American Hospitals Is Often Substandard". The New York Times. Associated Press. 2016-10-08. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  11. ↑ Olumhense, Ese; Husain, Nausheen (2018-01-22). "'Pharmacy deserts' a growing health concern in Chicago, experts, residents say". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  12. ↑ Kingson, Jennifer A. (2021-01-07). ""Pharmacy deserts" are becoming a bigger problem in low-income neighborhoods". Axios. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  13. ↑ Marsh, Tori (2021-01-14). "'Vaccine Deserts' Threaten to Prolong COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout - GoodRx". GoodRx. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  14. ↑ Adams, Biba (2020-12-25). "Pharmacy deserts expose racial and socioeconomic gap in vaccine access". TheGrio. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  15. ↑ Terry Ellis, Nicquel; Meyersohn, Nathaniel; Jimenez, Omar (2020-12-24). "Their communities are deserted by pharmacies. Advocates fear this will lead to inequitable vaccine access". CNN. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
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