More Than 10 Million U.S. Adults Live in Counties Without Psychiatrists, Broadband
Medically reviewed by Drugs.com.
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Sept. 21, 2023 -- More than 10 million people lived in U.S. counties without psychiatrists and broadband coverage in 2020, according to a research letter published online Sept. 14 in JAMA Network Open.
Tarun Ramesh, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues examined the prevalence of U.S. counties without psychiatrists and broadband coverage. The analysis included data from the American Community Survey, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Area Health Resources Files (psychiatrist workforce), and the Federal Communications Commission characterization of insufficient broadband.
The researchers found that 19.0 percent of all U.S. counties were without psychiatrists and broadband, representing 10.5 million residents. These counties were more likely to be rural (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 3.05), have higher unemployment (aOR, 1.12), have lower proportions of the population with bachelor’s degrees (aOR, 0.92), and be Hispanic (aOR, 0.98). However, these counties were not associated with the HRSA mental health professional shortage area designation. Counties without psychiatrists and broadband had higher rates of drug overdose mortality (9.2 versus 5.2 per 100,000) and completed suicide (10.6 versus 7.6 per 100,000) when adjusting for differences between the two county categories.
"Our finding suggests that lacking access to virtual and in-person psychiatric care continues to be a key factor associated with adverse outcomes after controlling for county-level sociodemographic status," the authors write.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted September 2023
Read this next
Child Maltreatment Linked to Externalizing, Internalizing Behavior
TUESDAY, May 14, 2024 -- Child maltreatment is associated with increases in externalizing and internalizing behaviors, according to a study published online May 14 in...
Large Language Models May Aid Emergency Department Triage
TUESDAY, May 14, 2024 -- Large language models (LLMs) could enhance emergency department triage workflows, according to a study published online May 7 in JAMA Network...
Neighborhood Inequity Tied to More People Living With Vision Difficulty, Blindness
TUESDAY, May 14, 2024 -- Residential measures of inequity are associated with a greater number of individuals living with vision difficulty and blindness (VDB), according to a...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.