Christian S McEvoy1, Dan Ross-Li2, Jenny M Held3, Darcy A Jones3, Samuel Rice-Townsend4, Christopher B Weldon4, Robert L Ricca5. 1. Department of Surgery, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Portsmouth, VA; Department of Heath Analysis, Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center, Portsmouth, VA. Electronic address: christian.s.mcevoy.mil@mail.mil. 2. University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Chicago, IL. 3. Department of Surgery, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Portsmouth, VA. 4. Departments of Surgery, Critical Care & Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA. 5. Department of Surgery, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Portsmouth, VA; Department of Pediatric Surgery, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Portsmouth, VA.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Geographic proximity to pediatric surgical care has not been evaluated using the Decennial Census nor have racial, ethnic, gender, or urbanization variations been reported. This study's aim is to describe proximity of children living in the continental U.S. to a pediatric surgeon with respect to these variations. METHODS: The 2010 American Pediatric Surgical Association member file and the 2010 Decennial Census were used to calculate straight-line distances between pediatric surgeons' zip code centroids and census block centroids. RESULTS: In 2010, 716 practicing pediatric surgeons were identified, 6,182,882 populated Census blocks were identified, and 73,690,271 children were enumerated. Of white non-Hispanic children, 30.1% lived greater than 40 miles from care. Of Native American children, 40.5% lived more than 60 miles from care. Among children 0-5 years of age, the median (IQR) miles to closest pediatric surgeon was 14.2 (6.2, 39.6), and 3,010,698 of these children lived more than 60 miles from care. CONCLUSION: More than 10 million children lived greater than 60 miles from a pediatric surgeon in 2010. Racial, ethnic, age, and urbanization variations in proximity to pediatric surgeons were present. This method is feasible to describe distance-to-care with the upcoming 2020 Decennial Census and may benefit future allocation of pediatric surgeons. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV. Published by Elsevier Inc.
PURPOSE: Geographic proximity to pediatric surgical care has not been evaluated using the Decennial Census nor have racial, ethnic, gender, or urbanization variations been reported. This study's aim is to describe proximity of children living in the continental U.S. to a pediatric surgeon with respect to these variations. METHODS: The 2010 American Pediatric Surgical Association member file and the 2010 Decennial Census were used to calculate straight-line distances between pediatric surgeons' zip code centroids and census block centroids. RESULTS: In 2010, 716 practicing pediatric surgeons were identified, 6,182,882 populated Census blocks were identified, and 73,690,271 children were enumerated. Of white non-Hispanic children, 30.1% lived greater than 40 miles from care. Of Native American children, 40.5% lived more than 60 miles from care. Among children 0-5 years of age, the median (IQR) miles to closest pediatric surgeon was 14.2 (6.2, 39.6), and 3,010,698 of these children lived more than 60 miles from care. CONCLUSION: More than 10 million children lived greater than 60 miles from a pediatric surgeon in 2010. Racial, ethnic, age, and urbanization variations in proximity to pediatric surgeons were present. This method is feasible to describe distance-to-care with the upcoming 2020 Decennial Census and may benefit future allocation of pediatric surgeons. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Entities:
Keywords:
Access to surgical care; Distance-to-care; Geographic proximity; Healthcare disparity
Authors: Katherine He; Jonathan L Hills-Dunlap; Mark A Kashtan; Heather Riley; Owen S Henry; Dionne A Graham; Nicole Wynne; Shannon L Cramm; Shawn J Rangel Journal: J Surg Res Date: 2022-05-04 Impact factor: 2.417
Authors: Flora Yan; Dylan A Levy; Chun-Che Wen; Cathy L Melvin; Marvella E Ford; Paul J Nietert; Phayvanh P Pecha Journal: Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg Date: 2021-03-02 Impact factor: 5.591