Photo Credit: Bluebay2014

Disparities exist in geographic access to neurologic care and MS subspecialty care, according to findings published in Neurology. Marisa McGinley, DO, and colleagues assessed data from 70,858 census tracts. Of these, 388 tracts had no neurologists within 60 miles, and 17,837 had no MS centers within 60 miles. Geographic access to neurologists, as measured by the spatial access ratio (SAR), was lower for rural (SAR, −80.49%) and micropolitan (SAR, −60.50%) areas compared with metropolitan areas. Tracts with a 10% higher percentage of Hispanic people (SAR, −4.53%), men (SAR, −6.76%), uninsured people (SAR, −7.99%), people with hearing trouble (SAR, −40.72%), vision issues (SAR, −13.0%), and ambulatory difficulty (SAR, −15.68%) had less access to neurologists. Census tracts with a 10% higher percentage of Black individuals (SAR, 3.50%), people with a college degree (SAR, −7.49%), individuals with computers (SAR, 16.57%), those with no vehicle (SAR, 9.57%), individuals with cognitive issues (SAR, 25.63%), people with limited English (SAR, 18.5%), and 10-year older individuals (SAR, 8.85%), had increased access to neurologists. Covariates for access followed similar patterns.