Study finds nearly half of US counties have at least one ‘pharmacy desert’

Nearly half of counties within the United States have not less than one ‘pharmacy desert’ the place there isn’t any retail pharmacy inside 10 miles, in line with a examine printed in JAMA Network Open by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center—Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC—James).

“As pharmacies shut, increasingly more Americans are left with out quick access to medicines, with disproportionate penalties on sure communities. We discovered that sufferers in counties with greater social vulnerabilities and fewer major care suppliers have been as much as 40% extra prone to reside in a area with a pharmacy desert,” stated Timothy Pawlik, MD, senior writer of the examine and holder of the Urban Meyer III and Shelley Meyer Chair for Cancer Research on the OSUCCC—James.

Pawlik additionally serves as surgeon-in-chief at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and as chair of the Department of Surgery within the Ohio State College of Medicine.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) defines social vulnerability as “potential damaging results on communities attributable to exterior stresses on human well being.”

“These findings spotlight how disparities compound the shortage of entry to fundamental well being care and the way it can result in many individuals not taking their prescribed medicines and having worse well being outcomes, particularly for persistent circumstances like diabetes and hypertension,” Pawlik added.

Researchers reviewed information on communities positioned lower than 10 miles from the closest retail pharmacy from the publicly out there TelePharm Map. Counties have been famous as having a excessive pharmacy desert density if the variety of pharmacy deserts per 1,000 residents was within the seventy fifth percentile.

Social vulnerability index (SVI) and well being care supplier information have been obtained from the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the Area Health Resource File databases, respectively. The researchers used statistical strategies to investigate the relationships between these components.

The examine discovered virtually 46% of the three,143 counties had not less than one pharmacy desert. Counties with a excessive density of pharmacy deserts had greater social vulnerability and fewer major care suppliers. People in these high-density pharmacy desert areas have been extra prone to face difficulties accessing medicines and well being care providers.

Collaborators on this examine embrace Giovanni Catalano, MD, Muhammad Muntazir Mehdi Khan, MBBS, and Odysseas P. Chatzipanagiotou, MD.