Association between distance to community health care facilities and COVID-19–related mortality across U.S. counties in the COVID-19–vaccine era

• Published in: BMC research notes Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 96 - 5
• Main Authors: Huang, Wenxi, Hernandez, Inmaculada, Tang, Shangbin, Dickson, Sean, Berenbrok, Lucas A., Guo, Jingchuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 05.06.2023; BioMed Central Ltd; BMC
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Community health care; COVID-19; COVID-19 mortality; COVID-19 vaccines; Education; Ethnicity; Family income; Geographic proximity; Health care; Health care policy; Health disparities; Health facilities; Healthcare access; Hispanic Americans; Life Sciences; Management; Medicine/Public Health; Minority & ethnic groups; Mortality; Neighborhoods; Pandemics; Population; Public health; Public transportation; Racial disparities; Research Note; Social determinant of health; Sociodemographics; Socioeconomic factors; Uninsured people; Vaccines; United States; United States > US; COVID-19 mortality; Healthcare access; Geographic proximity; Social determinant of health; Racial disparities; Health disparities
• ISSN: 1756-0500; 1756-0500
• DOI: 10.1186/s13104-023-06366-3

Objective COVID-19 has caused tremendous damage to U.S. public health, but COVID vaccines can effectively reduce the risk of COVID-19 infections and related mortality. Our study aimed to quantify the association between proximity to a community healthcare facility and COVID-19 related mortality after COVID vaccines became publicly available and explore how this association varied across racial and ethnic groups. Results Residents living farther from a facility had higher COVID-19–related mortality across U.S. counties. This increased mortality incidence associated with longer distances was particularly pronounced in counties with higher proportions of Black and Hispanic populations.