TUESDAY, Feb. 13, 2024 (HealthDay News) — There are significant geographic disparities in access to pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) programs across the United States, according to a research letter published online Feb. 5. got it. JAMA network open.
Peter A. Kahn, MD, and Walter S. Mathis, MD, of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, sought to understand national travel times to PR programs as an indicator of PR access. PR locations were determined from livebetter.org and travel times were calculated from the center of each census block to the closest 25 PR sites in all states in the continental United States and Washington, DC.
The researchers found that densely populated urban areas and major cities had the shortest travel times, with approximately 47.8 percent of the total U.S. population living within a 15-minute drive of a PR program. Expanding this criterion to a 30-minute drive distance would include an additional 32.5 percent of the population within driving distance, primarily for residents of the suburban areas surrounding these urban centers. Access is limited for individuals living in rural and sparsely populated areas, with 14 million people having to drive more than an hour to get to their nearest PR program.
“By focusing on travel times rather than geodesic distances, our findings address the challenges faced by many people, especially those living in rural and sparsely populated areas and from minority racial and ethnic groups. “can be depicted more realistically,” the authors write.
One author disclosed connections with the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries.
Summary/Full text
Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
