Study: Many U.S. women too far from gynecologic cancer care

PHILADELPHIA, June 11 (UPI) -- Nearly 15 million women in the United States live more than 50 miles from the nearest gynecologic oncologist and 47 states have at least one county located more than 50 miles away from one, according to a new study.

Researchers estimate that more than 7,000 women per year with gynecologic cancers, including ovarian, uterine and cervical cancer, either have difficulty getting care or never get it because of their distance to specialty centers.

"Increased travel time to a specialty center likely prevents many patients from being appropriately evaluated, and may decrease their likelihood of receiving the standard of care, or accessing clinical trials for ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers," said David Shalowitz, MD, a fellow in the division of Gynecologic Oncology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in a press release.

"Nine to 15 percent of women live in areas that likely limit their access to high-quality care for these potentially deadly conditions," Shalowitz said. "While we don't yet know how access correlates to health outcomes, referral networks need to be structured in a way that alleviates the burden of travel for women in need of a specialist."

Thirty-six percent of counties were located more than 50 miles from the closest gynecologic oncologist, affecting 14.8 million women, based on a spatial analysis that mapped the number of gynecologic oncologists located within 50, 100 and 150 miles of county borders for the more than 3,000 counties in the U.S. All but three states have at least one county farther than 50 miles from the nearest specialist, and the entire state of North Dakota is at least that far from the primary address of care providers.

Researchers also found that 15 percent of women may have trouble obtaining care based on 123 medical referral networks which lack access to a gynecologic specialist.

Future research, Shalowitz said, should focus on the relationship between distance to care providers and actual clinical outcomes.

The study is published in Gynecologic Oncology.