A Novel Approach to Analyze Disparities in Colorectal Cancer Screening and Mortality.

INTRODUCTION: Reducing disparities in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates and mortality remains a priority. Mitigation strategies to reduce these disparities have largely been unsuccessful. The primary aim is to determine variables in models of healthcare utilization and their association with CRC screening and mortality in North Carolina. METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis of publicly available data across North Carolina using variable reduction techniques with clustering to evaluate association of CRC screening rates and mortality was performed. RESULTS: Three million sixty-five thousand five hundred thirty-seven residents (32.1%) were aged 50 y or more. More than two-thirds (68.8%) were White, while 20.5% were Black. Approximately 61% aged 50 y or more underwent CRC screening (range: 44.0%-80.5%) and had a CRC mortality of 44.8 per 100,000 (range 22.8 to 76.6 per 100,000). Cluster analysis identified two factors, designated social economic education index (factor 1) and rural provider index (factor 2) for inclusion in the multivariate analysis. CRC screening rates were associated with factor 1, consisting of socioeconomic and education variables, and factor 2, comprised of the number of providers per 10,000 individuals aged 50 y or more and rurality. An increase in both factors 1 and 2 by one point would result in an increase in CRC screening rated by 6.8%. CRC mortality was associated with factor 2. An increase in one point in factor 1 results in a decrease in mortality risk by 10.9%. CONCLUSIONS: In North Carolina, using variable reduction with clustering, CRC screening rates were associated with the inter-relationship of the number of providers and rurality, while CRC mortality was associated with the inter-relationship of social, economic, and education variables.

Disparities in Access to Bariatric Surgery in North Carolina.

BACKGROUND: This study sought to identify factors that contribute to disparities in access to bariatric surgery in North Carolina (NC). METHODS: Using the rate of bariatric surgery in the county with the best health outcome as the reference, we calculated the Surgical Equity Index (SEI) in the remaining counties in NC. RESULTS: Approximately 2.95 million individuals (29%) were obese in NC. There were 992 (.5%) bariatric procedures performed on a population of 194 209 individuals with obesity in the Reference County (RC). The mean SEI for bariatric surgery in NC was .47 (SD .17, range .15-.95). A statistically significant difference was observed in 89 counties. Univariable analyses identified the following variables to be significantly associated with the SEI: percent of population living in rural areas (% rural) (relative rate change in SEI [RR] = .994, 95% CI .92-.997; <.0001), median household income (RR = 1.0, 95% CI = 1.0-1.0; P = .0002), prevalence of diabetes (RR = .947, 95% CI .917-.977; .0006), the primary care physician ratio (RR = .995, 95% CI .991-.998; P = .006), and percent uninsured adults (RR = .955, 95% CI .927-.985; P = .003). By multivariable hierarchical regression analysis, only the % rural remained statistically associated with a low SEI (RR = .995 per 1% increase in % rural, 95% CI = .992, .998; P = .0002). DISCUSSION: The percent rural is the most significant predictor of disparities in access to bariatric surgery. For every 1% increase in % rural, the rate of surgery decreased by .5%. Understanding the characteristics of rurality that are barriers to access is crucial to mitigate disparities in bariatric surgical access in NC.