Urban-Rural Differences in Geodetic Distance Between Home and the Nearest Pharmacy Among Older Pennsylvania Adults

Autor: Debra A. Heller, Theresa V. Brown, Leroy L. Latty, Shivani R. Khan, Michelle LaSure
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Innovation in Aging
ISSN: 2399-5300
Popis: Aim: We examined differences in geodetic or straight line distance between home and the nearest community pharmacy among rural and urban older adults in Pennsylvania. Method: The addresses of 241,398 older adults (≥65 years) and 2,880 community pharmacies enrolled in Pennsylvania’s Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly (PACE) program in 2018 were geocoded. We identified pharmacies in the same or adjacent counties for each enrollee and measured the geodetic distance between home and those pharmacies. The pharmacy with the shortest distance from home was identified as the nearest pharmacy for each enrollee. Enrollees’ home addresses were categorized as urban or rural at the county level, based on the Center for Rural Pennsylvania’s definitions. T-tests and chi-squared tests were used for analyses. Results: Overall, 37% were rural older adults and the mean distance between home and the nearest pharmacy was 1.60 ± 2.21 miles. The mean distance between home and the nearest pharmacy was significantly greater in rural compared to urban older adults (2.78 ± 2.93 versus 0.91 ± 1.19; p5 miles away from the nearest pharmacy compared to urban older adults (19.19% versus 1.80%; p10 miles away from the nearest pharmacy compared to 0.08% of urban older adults (p
Databáze: OpenAIRE