Chapter Access to emergency care services and inequalities in living standards: Some evidence from two Italian northern regions
Rapid access to emergency medical care is crucial in reducing the implications of negative health events in terms of both mortality and disability. Thus, in a well-designed health system the geographical distribution of emergency care services should be able to minimize the share of people whose acc...
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| Format: | Online |
| Language: | English |
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Firenze University Press, Genova University Press
2023
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| Online Access: | ONIX_20230803_9791221501063_92 |
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| author | Succi, Raffaella MARINO, ANDREA Pesce, Marco |
| author_browse | MARINO, ANDREA Pesce, Marco Succi, Raffaella |
| author_facet | Succi, Raffaella MARINO, ANDREA Pesce, Marco |
| author_sort | Succi, Raffaella |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | Rapid access to emergency medical care is crucial in reducing the implications of negative health events in terms of both mortality and disability. Thus, in a well-designed health system the geographical distribution of emergency care services should be able to minimize the share of people whose access time lies beyond critical thresholds. In spite of this, statistical information measuring accessibility to emergency care services at a highly disaggregated level is unavailable in Italy. This paper makes a step in filling this gap, by providing geographically detailed estimates of accessibility in two northern regions, Liguria and Lombardia. To do so, we use three data sources: 1) georeferenced population data measured at the currently most possible detailed level (census enumeration areas, CEAs) from the 2011 Population Census; 2) open data on location of emergency care services; 3) crowdsourced data on road travel distances. Elaborating these data with an efficient algorithm based on open source routing machine provides us with a clear mapping of particularly disadvantaged areas. We find that in 2013 the population share whose access time to emergency care services lies beyond a critical –and policy relevant- threshold of 60 minutes is fairly limited (about 0.1% in both regions). Regional differences emerge when setting lower thresholds. We briefly discuss how accessibility may have evolved in recent years, based upon some conjecture on population dynamics at the CEA level and updated information on emergency care centers. Finally, we analyze how differences in accessibility are related to a set of characteristics describing the population’s living conditions. Different results emerge. In particular, older and less educated people in Liguria face significantly lower access to emergency care. Overall, our results suggest that spatial differences in accessibility -within and between regions- should be considered a relevant determinant of health inequality. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-112146 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Firenze University Press, Genova University Press |
| publisherStr | Firenze University Press, Genova University Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1121462025-07-17T10:01:37Z Chapter Access to emergency care services and inequalities in living standards: Some evidence from two Italian northern regions Succi, Raffaella MARINO, ANDREA Pesce, Marco emergency care accessibility health inequalities efficient routing algorithms on open (big) data thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences Rapid access to emergency medical care is crucial in reducing the implications of negative health events in terms of both mortality and disability. Thus, in a well-designed health system the geographical distribution of emergency care services should be able to minimize the share of people whose access time lies beyond critical thresholds. In spite of this, statistical information measuring accessibility to emergency care services at a highly disaggregated level is unavailable in Italy. This paper makes a step in filling this gap, by providing geographically detailed estimates of accessibility in two northern regions, Liguria and Lombardia. To do so, we use three data sources: 1) georeferenced population data measured at the currently most possible detailed level (census enumeration areas, CEAs) from the 2011 Population Census; 2) open data on location of emergency care services; 3) crowdsourced data on road travel distances. Elaborating these data with an efficient algorithm based on open source routing machine provides us with a clear mapping of particularly disadvantaged areas. We find that in 2013 the population share whose access time to emergency care services lies beyond a critical –and policy relevant- threshold of 60 minutes is fairly limited (about 0.1% in both regions). Regional differences emerge when setting lower thresholds. We briefly discuss how accessibility may have evolved in recent years, based upon some conjecture on population dynamics at the CEA level and updated information on emergency care centers. Finally, we analyze how differences in accessibility are related to a set of characteristics describing the population’s living conditions. Different results emerge. In particular, older and less educated people in Liguria face significantly lower access to emergency care. Overall, our results suggest that spatial differences in accessibility -within and between regions- should be considered a relevant determinant of health inequality. 2023-08-08T05:37:30Z 2023-08-08T05:37:30Z 2023-08-03T15:05:59Z 2023 chapter ONIX_20230803_9791221501063_92 2704-5846 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/74896 9791221501063 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/112146 eng Proceedings e report open access image/png image/jpeg Attribution 4.0 International Attribution 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/74896/1/9791221501063-24.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/74896/1/9791221501063-24.pdf Firenze University Press, Genova University Press 10.36253/979-12-215-0106-3.24 10.36253/979-12-215-0106-3.24 74113d79-2268-4658-88bb-6e8757c543b0 ASA 2022 Data-Driven Decision Making 9791221501063 6 Florence open access |
| spellingShingle | emergency care accessibility health inequalities efficient routing algorithms on open (big) data thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences Succi, Raffaella MARINO, ANDREA Pesce, Marco Chapter Access to emergency care services and inequalities in living standards: Some evidence from two Italian northern regions |
| title | Chapter Access to emergency care services and inequalities in living standards: Some evidence from two Italian northern regions |
| title_full | Chapter Access to emergency care services and inequalities in living standards: Some evidence from two Italian northern regions |
| title_fullStr | Chapter Access to emergency care services and inequalities in living standards: Some evidence from two Italian northern regions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chapter Access to emergency care services and inequalities in living standards: Some evidence from two Italian northern regions |
| title_short | Chapter Access to emergency care services and inequalities in living standards: Some evidence from two Italian northern regions |
| title_sort | chapter access to emergency care services and inequalities in living standards some evidence from two italian northern regions |
| topic | emergency care accessibility health inequalities efficient routing algorithms on open (big) data thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences |
| topic_facet | emergency care accessibility health inequalities efficient routing algorithms on open (big) data thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences |
| url | ONIX_20230803_9791221501063_92 |
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