Geographic Access to Pediatric Retina Specialists in the United States.

BACKGROUND AND

OBJECTIVE

With rising incidence of pediatric retina disease, this study aimed to identify geographic and socioeconomic factors that predict residential access to pediatric retinal specialists.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

This cross-sectional, retrospective study identified pediatric retina specialists in the United States and de-identified census tract-level data from public datasets. An origin-destination cost matrix was used to calculate travel time to the closest pediatric vitreoretinal specialist.

RESULTS

Factors associated with greater travel burden to the nearest pediatric retinal specialist included residing in census tracts that were rural (P < .001), in the South vs Northeast (P = .009), low income (P < .0001), and low education (associate and some college vs bachelor's degree; P = .003 and .015). Counties with higher proportion of very low birth weight infants had significantly less travel time (P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

Counties with higher incidences of very low birth weight infants experience reduced travel durations to pediatric retina specialists. However, residents in rural, low-income, low-education census tracts, particularly in Southern regions, face greater travel burdens.