Tharumia Jagadeesan Cindrel, Wirtz Veronika J
Department of Global Health, Boston University School of Public Health Crosstown, 3rd floor, 801 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA, 02118, USA.
J Pharm Policy Pract. 2021 Mar 4;14(1):28. doi: 10.1186/s40545-020-00291-7.
Measuring access to medicines has often been limited to assessing availability and affordability, while little is known regarding other dimensions of access including geographical accessibility. Our study aims to provide a systematic review of literature on the accessibility of medicines by studying the geographical distribution of pharmacies using Spatial Analytical methods.
As systematic review of scientific peer-reviewed literature between 2000 and 2018 was carried out using PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Google and the Preferred Reporting items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Data regarding pharmacy density, distance to pharmacies in relation of pharmacy to sociodemographic factors and pharmacy characteristics were extracted from studies that meet the inclusion criteria.
Twenty papers fulfilled our inclusion criteria, of which only three were from middle income countries and rest from high-income economies. Pharmacy density per population was reported in 15 studies. Although geographical information was utilized in all studies, only 14 studies reported distance to pharmacies represented as Euclidean (straight line) distance. Disparities in accessibility was reported according to population income and rural or urban location. Seven studies described additional pharmacy characteristics including opening hours, presence of a pharmacist and delivery services.
Geographical accessibility is a key dimension of access to medicines. Pharmacy density per population is a relevant indicator to assess geographical accessibility which should be complemented by an equity analysis using socio-demographic information and population perception of accessibility.
衡量药品可及性通常局限于评估药品的可得性和可负担性，而对于可及性的其他维度，包括地理可及性，了解甚少。我们的研究旨在通过运用空间分析方法研究药店的地理分布，对药品可及性的文献进行系统综述。
使用PubMed、科学网、谷歌学术、谷歌以及系统评价和Meta分析的首选报告项目（PRISMA），对2000年至2018年间科学同行评审文献进行系统综述。从符合纳入标准的研究中提取有关药店密度、药店与社会人口学因素相关的距离以及药店特征的数据。
20篇论文符合我们的纳入标准，其中只有3篇来自中等收入国家，其余来自高收入经济体。15项研究报告了每人口的药店密度。尽管所有研究都利用了地理信息，但只有14项研究报告了以欧几里得（直线）距离表示的到药店的距离。根据人口收入以及农村或城市位置报告了可及性方面的差异。7项研究描述了其他药店特征，包括营业时间、药剂师的配备和送货服务。
地理可及性是药品可及性的关键维度。每人口的药店密度是评估地理可及性的一个相关指标，应用社会人口学信息和民众对可及性的认知进行公平性分析加以补充。
