Department of Ophthalmology, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA.
College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
Ophthalmic Epidemiol. 2024 Aug;31(4):349-355. doi: 10.1080/09286586.2023.2273508. Epub 2023 Oct 26.
To study geographic patterns in ophthalmologist supply and patient demand for services in the United States.
Google Trends data for the keywords "ophthalmology" and "ophthalmologist" between 2004 and 2019 were queried and normalized to determine relative search volumes (RSV) for each United States state. Ophthalmologist density was calculated by dividing the number of practicing ophthalmologists by the State Census Bureau population estimates. RSV values were divided by ophthalmologist density and normalized to calculate the relative demand index (RDI) for each state. The number of accredited ophthalmology programs per state was acquired through the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
Ophthalmologist concentration was highly heterogeneous across the country. The states with the highest concentration of ophthalmologist per 10,000 people were Washington, DC (1.42), Maryland (0.94), Massachusetts (0.87), and New York (0.86), while the lowest were Wyoming (0.19), Idaho (0.36), New Mexico (0.38), and Nevada (0.39). RSVs ranged from 36 (Alaska and North Dakota) to 100 (Michigan). The highest RDI was found in South Dakota (100), Delaware (84), Michigan (66), and Arizona (56). The lowest RDI was in Washington, DC (0), Hawaii (7), Oregon (8), and Montana (14). The highest number of ophthalmology residency programs were in New York (18), Texas (9), and California (9), whereas 12 states lacked residency programs altogether.
In this study, we found a wide range in the geographic distribution of ophthalmologists and residency programs in the United States. States with the highest relative demand index may represent areas most at risk of unmet medical needs.
研究美国眼科医生供给和患者服务需求的地理分布模式。
查询了 2004 年至 2019 年期间“ophthalmology”和“ophthalmologist”这两个关键词在谷歌趋势上的数据，并对其进行标准化处理，以确定美国各州的相对搜索量（RSV）。通过将执业眼科医生人数除以州人口普查局的人口估算数来计算眼科医生的密度。将 RSV 值除以眼科医生密度并进行标准化处理，以计算每个州的相对需求指数（RDI）。通过美国研究生医学教育认证委员会（Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education）获得每个州的认证眼科项目数量。
全国范围内眼科医生的分布高度不均匀。每 10000 人中眼科医生数量最高的州分别是华盛顿特区（1.42）、马里兰州（0.94）、马萨诸塞州（0.87）和纽约州（0.86），而最低的是怀俄明州（0.19）、爱达荷州（0.36）、新墨西哥州（0.38）和内华达州（0.39）。RSV 范围从 36（阿拉斯加和北达科他州）到 100（密歇根州）。RDI 最高的是南达科他州（100）、特拉华州（84）、密歇根州（66）和亚利桑那州（56）。RDI 最低的是华盛顿特区（0）、夏威夷州（7）、俄勒冈州（8）和蒙大拿州（14）。眼科住院医师项目数量最多的是纽约州（18）、德克萨斯州（9）和加利福尼亚州（9），而有 12 个州完全没有住院医师项目。
在这项研究中，我们发现美国眼科医生和住院医师项目的地理分布范围很广。相对需求指数最高的州可能代表着医疗需求未得到满足的风险最高的地区。
