Geospatial Disparities in Access to Proton Therapy in the Continental United States
Luke Maillie, Stanislav Lazarev, Charles B. Simone, Matthew Sisk
Abstract
Proton therapy (PT) is an important component of therapy for select cancers, but no formal study of geospatial access to PT has been conducted to date. Population data for 320.7 million people in 32,644 zip codes were analyzed. Median travel time was 1.61 (IQR 0.67-3.36) hours for children and 1.64 (IQR 0.69-3.33) hours for adults. Significant variation in travel time to nearest PT center was observed between states. The West has a longer median travel time of 3.51 (IQR 1.15-7.13) hours when compared to the Midwest (1.70, IQR 0.79-2.69), South (1.60, IQR 0.61-3.12) and Northeast (1.04, IQR 0.57-2.01).
Topics & Concepts
Geospatial analysisMedicineDemographyProton therapyPopulationTravel timeGeographyInternal medicineEnvironmental healthCartographyRadiation therapyTransport engineeringSociologyEngineeringRadiation Therapy and DosimetryAdvances in Oncology and RadiotherapyAdvanced Radiotherapy Techniques