Sabrenda Braceful
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Research Mentor(s): Natalie Colabianchi
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Applied Exercise Science / Kinesiology
Program:
Authors: Sabrenda Braceful, Ian Lang, Cathy Antonakos, Stephanie Miller, Suzanne Judd, Natalie Colabianchi
Session: Session 5 2:40-3:30 p.m. Hussey Room
Poster:
Abstract
Racial residential segregation was birthed from many years of local, state, and federal government policies that created spatial inequities that persist today, and as a result, may impact an individual’s ability to have adequate access to healthcare facilities. Our study aims to address how individuals in the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study experience racial residential segregation and if these experiences hinder their access to healthcare facilities. The REGARDS study has tracked participants nationwide since the year 2003 in order to study factors that may influence an individual’s risk of stroke. Our methods include measuring exposure to racial residential segregation of Black residents in the United States using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic. Exposure values were assigned to Black and White participants in the REGARDS study with a valid residential address in 2014 (n = 19,169). We also used the geocoded addresses of the participants to determine the density of pharmacies/drug stores, mental health clinics, health practitioner offices, physical therapy centers, retail clinics, and dental offices within an 8-km sausage buffer of participants’ residences. The outcome was dichotomized at the 75th percentile. We fit logistic regression models to analyze the relationship between racial residential segregation and each healthcare facility outcome controlling for covariates. Our study used individuals who lived in areas with no racial clustering as the reference group. We found that across most healthcare facilities measured within our study (regardless of participants’ race and other factors), as Black segregation increases, the odds of having high access to medical facilities (i.e., having a density in the top quartile) are lower compared to individuals who live in areas with no racial clustering. This study helps elucidate the relationship between racial residential segregation and access to healthcare facilities, as not having proper access to health practitioner offices, mental health clinics, pharmacies & drug stores, etc. can be detrimental to one’s health and potentially contribute to racial health inequities.
