We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Diabetes and Rurality: Discrepancy in Access to Care.
- Authors
Zimpfer, M. Jade; Theodori, Gene L.; Scarbrough, Amanda W.
- Abstract
In order for a diabetic patient to maintain a healthy life, careful attention of an endocrinologist is required. A diabetic's reliance on the availability and accessibility of an endocrinologist can prove to be precarious when there are very few or none in his/her spatial proximity. Previous studies suggest certain socioeconomic variables (race, sex, and rurality) substantially impact an individual's susceptibility to diabetes. In this paper, we used the most cited socioeconomic variables in the extant literature to designate whether or not a county should be labeled 'at-risk.' 'At-risk' counties were denoted as such based on the relationship between the variable examined and the diabetic prevalence rate for the state of Texas. Additionally, we examined diabetes prevalence among 'at-risk' counties and the location of endocrinologist offices to assess the spatial accessibility for diabetic patients in potentially accessing the appropriate health care for the disease. Analyses revealed that using a combination of population density and median income criteria produced more counties in Texas labeled 'at-risk' than when using a more restrictive combination of several previously-cited socioeconomic variables, or when identifying 'at-risk' counties using race alone (proportion of African-American or Hispanic residents). Moreover, results show that rural counties labeled 'at-risk' are often the least likely to have an endocrinologist office in the county or in surrounding counties. Additionally, many counties with higher than the state prevalence for diabetes do not have endocrinologist offices; rather, endocrinologists are more likely to be located in densely populated counties. We conclude that there is a discrepancy in diabetic patients in counties defined as 'atrisk' having accessibility to appropriate care for their disease.
- Publication
Texas Public Health Journal, 2021, Vol 73, Issue 2, p15
- ISSN
2574-5859
- Publication type
Academic Journal