School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT9 5AG, UK.
School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 24;20(1):278. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20010278.
Chronic diseases place a substantial financial burden on both the patient and the state. As chronic diseases become increasingly prevalent with urbanization and aging, primary chronic disease pharmacies should be planned to ensure that patients receive an equitable distribution of resources. Here, the spatial equity of chronic disease pharmacies is investigated. In this study, planning radiuses and Web mapping are used to assess the walkability and accessibility of planned chronic disease pharmacies; Lorenz curves are used to evaluate the match between the service area of the pharmacies and population; location quotients are used to identify the spatial differences of the allocation of chronic disease pharmacies based on residents. Results show that chronic disease pharmacies have a planned service coverage of 38.09%, an overlap rate of 58.34%, and actual service coverage of 28.05% in Wuhan. Specifically, chronic disease pharmacies are spatially dispersed inconsistently with the population, especially the elderly. The allocation of chronic disease pharmacies is directly related to the standard of patients' livelihood. Despite this, urban development does not adequately address this group's equity in access to medication. Based on a case study in Wuhan, China, this study aims to fill this gap by investigating the spatial equity of chronic disease medication purchases.
慢性病给患者和国家都带来了沉重的经济负担。随着城市化和老龄化进程的推进，慢性病的发病率不断上升，因此应该规划基层慢性病药店，以确保患者能够公平地分配资源。本研究旨在探讨慢性病药店的空间公平性。本研究采用规划半径和网络映射来评估规划慢性病药店的可达性和步行性；洛伦兹曲线用于评估药店服务区域与人口的匹配程度；区位商用于根据居民识别慢性病药店分配的空间差异。结果表明，武汉市慢性病药店的规划服务覆盖率为 38.09%，重叠率为 58.34%，实际服务覆盖率为 28.05%。具体而言，慢性病药店的空间分布与人口分布不一致，尤其是老年人。慢性病药店的分配与患者的生活水平标准直接相关。尽管如此，城市发展并没有充分考虑到这一群体在获得药物方面的公平性。本研究以中国武汉市为例，旨在通过调查慢性病药物购买的空间公平性来填补这一空白。
