Rural and urban disparities in the care of Canadian patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a population-based study.

Conclusion: There were lower rates of gastroenterologist physician visits, more hospitalizations, and greater rates of ED visits in rural IBD patients. These disparities in health services use result in costlier care for rural patients. Innovative methods of delivering gastroenterology care to rural IBD patients (such as telehealth, online support, and remote clinics) should be explored, especially for communities lacking easy access to gastroenterologists.
PMID: 30519110 [PubMed]

Source: Rural Remote Health - December 7, 2018 Category: Rural Health Authors: Benchimol EI, Kuenzig ME, Bernstein CN, Nguyen GC, Guttmann A, Jones JL, Potter BK, Targownik LE, Catley CA, Nugent ZJ, Tanyingoh D, Mojaverian N, Underwood FE, Siddiq S, Otley AR, Bitton A, Carroll MW, deBruyn JC, Dummer TJ, El-Matary W, Griffiths AM, Ja Tags: Clin Epidemiol Source Type: research