Socioeconomic Disparities in Gentle Skin Care Access for Atopic Dermatitis: Affordability and Pharmacy Deserts.

BACKGROUND

Gentle skin care is key to atopic dermatitis (AD) treatment, yet products are often expensive. Pharmacy deserts may exacerbate socioeconomic disparities in AD.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the price of dermatologist-recommended skin care to popularly purchased products, and to assess the prevalence and accessibility of pharmacy retailers selling these products in low- versus high-income zip codes.

RESULTS

National Eczema Association (NEA)-recommended products were more expensive than popularly purchased products for moisturizing lotions ($2.72/oz vs $1.13/oz, P<0.0001) and liquid body soaps ($1.30/oz vs $0.35/oz, P<0.0001) across all retailers (Amazon, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Target, and Meijer). Lower-income zip codes had significantly lower densities of retail stores than higher-income zip codes in both Chicago (0.26 vs 3.20 stores/10,000 pop, P=0.0007) and New York (0.26 vs 2.90 stores/10,000 pop, P=0.02). Stores in low-income zip codes had fewer hours of operation in both Chicago (14.9 vs 19.2 hours/day, P=0.02) and New York (13.3 vs 21.0 hour/day, P=0.0002) and lower stock in both Chicago (2.0 vs 5.1 units, P=0.05) and New York (1.4 vs 4.8 units, P=0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

Recommended products are more expensive than popular products. Retail pharmacies selling these products are less prevalent in low-income neighborhoods, have fewer hours of operation, and have lower average stock, exacerbating AD disparities.