Distance to endoscopy services amplifies racial inequities in colorectal cancer mortality in Washington state.
Am J Surg
; 2024 Apr 18.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38670835
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
This study evaluates relationships among race, access to endoscopy services, and colorectal cancer (CRC) mortality in Washington state (WA).METHODS:
We overlayed the locations of ambulatory endoscopy services with place of residence at time of death, using Department of Health data (2011-2018). We compared CRC mortality data within and outside a 10 âkm buffer from services. We used linear regression to assess the impact of distance and race on age at death while adjusting for gender and education level.RESULTS:
Age at death median 72.9y vs. 68.2y for white vs. non-white (p â< â0.001). The adjusted model showed that non-whites residing outside the buffer died 6.9y younger on average (p â< â0.001). Non-whites residing inside the buffer died 5.2y younger on average (p â< â0.001), and whites residing outside the buffer died 1.6y younger (p â< â0.001). We used heatmaps to geolocate death density.CONCLUSIONS:
Results suggest that geographic access to endoscopy services disproportionately impacts non-whites in Washington. These data help identify communities which may benefit from improved access to alternative colorectal cancer screening methods.
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Year:
2024
Type:
Article