Pharmacy deserts have been identified in various locales across the USA [3, 5, 7, 15]. To our knowledge, this study is the first to identify and characterize pharmacy deserts in Los Angeles County. Furthermore, this is the first study anywhere to specifically examine the internal composition of geographically defined pharmacy deserts using SDOH indicators and K-means clustering analysis. Our study revealed that LA County pharmacy deserts were of two distinct types (Fig. 3). Type one pharmacy deserts consisted of more residents that identified as non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic and less residents that identified as non-Hispanic White or non-Hispanic Asian. This corroborates earlier studies in which there was a disparity in pharmacy access in minority communities [3, 7]. Our study revealed that when compared to type 2 pharmacy deserts, more residents of type one deserts lived below the FPL, rented and did not own their own home, had no high school diploma, spoke English as a second language, had no vehicle, and lacked health insurance (Table 3). Moreover, type one deserts also encompassed areas with higher indices of crime and health professional shortage similar to previous works [3, 7].
These findings expand upon the definition adopted from the food desert literature and used in prior literature that have either described SDOH indicators in pharmacy deserts once the deserts were identified by geography or have used the basic greater-than-1-mile-travel-distance pharmacy desert definition along with the pre-determined SDOH indicators from the nutritional desert literature to characterize pharmacy deserts [3, 5, 7]. However, both research approaches have inherent problems that limit the interpretability of their results. The first approach does not facilitate the true discernment of contextual-based differences in all the places that are more than 1 mile from community pharmacies, thus leading to potential conflation between rural, suburban, and urban environments. The second approach based on food desert indicators is self-limiting and misses relevant indicators (i.e., health care provider shortages) that do not meet the specified non-distance-based exclusion criteria. The results of this study differ and extend the literature as the basic geographic definition of pharmacy deserts was used and merged with SDOH indicators followed by application of K-means clustering analysis to yield the 2 distinct pharmacy desert cluster sub-types.
The causes of divergent SDOH factors in types 1 and 2 pharmacy deserts (Fig. 2) have a historical formation in structural inequity which contributes to population migration in Los Angeles County. Prior to the Civil Rights Movement, exclusionary practices such as racial zoning and redlining maintained NHB and Hispanics in impoverished, densely populated neighborhoods, while NHW out-migrated to suburban areas [20, 21]. While redlining no longer exists, race riots, economic forces which have increased housing costs, and immigration all contribute to the persistence of predominantly minority communities in Los Angeles County [22]. More specifically, predominantly minority communities are in SPA 6, which consists of 68% Latinos and 27% African Americans and in SPA 7, which is 74% Latino [17]. Furthermore, predominantly NHW communities of white out-migration are in SPA 5 (64% White) and SPA 2 (45% White) [17]. Structural inequity factors regarding minority race/ethnicity and low socioeconomic status are also associated with low education attainment, high crime rates, and poor access to health care [23,24,25,26,27]. Altogether, our findings suggest that living in a type one pharmacy desert likely compounds limited community pharmacy access due to competing needs. While residents of type two pharmacy deserts might lack access to community pharmacies solely based on the travel distance, more of these residents also have vehicles, and live in suburban areas where the community pharmacies might be spread farther apart geospatially by design since the population density is almost 3 times less than that of type one pharmacy deserts.
As Los Angeles County is diverse, pharmacy deserts and non-deserts varied in each Service Planning Area across the county (Fig. 1). This aligns with a previous study that demonstrated differential geographic access to community pharmacies in New York communities of varied socioeconomic levels [5]. It is not surprising that SPA 2 would have the most pharmacy deserts, community pharmacies, and independently owned pharmacies, based on population size (Table 1 and Table 5). San Fernando also had the most type two pharmacy deserts. This suggests that market factors such as consumer demand, health insurance coverage, health professionals, and competitor pharmacies in area might drive pharmacy access in this SPA. Health care access for residents that live in in these types of deserts might be also be considered less burdensome. In other words, there is an increased chance of profit where there are more potential customers, especially customers that are likely to have prescription drug coverage (health insurance). More residents of type two pharmacy deserts have health insurance when compared to those living in type one deserts. Regarding situational analysis, owners of independent pharmacies often open new pharmacies close to medical offices with the intention of building relationships with health care providers in nearby medical practices [28]. Type two pharmacy deserts encompassed less HPSA than type one pharmacy deserts. Furthermore, opening a pharmacy at an optimal location, one that is intentionally located farther away from competitors, likely benefits profit margins. This is supported by past studies in which pharmacy owners were found to make decisions about market entry and exit based on population density and community income status [15, 29, 30]. It is crucial to note here that while SPA 5 pharmacy deserts were all type two deserts, there were only four type two deserts in SPA 6, the inner-city area.
Ninety-three percent of all pharmacy deserts in SPA 6 were type one deserts. Service Planning Area 6 also had the second smallest number of independent and chain pharmacies following SPA 1 and the least pharmacies per 1000 residents, when compared to the remaining 7 SPAs. However, there were 51% more residents per square mile living in SPA 6 than SPA 1. This is significant as it suggests that residents in SPA 6 lack access to much needed pharmacy services such as immunizations, pre-exposure, and post-exposure prophylaxis for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tobacco cessation assistance, contraception assistance, medication management, and naloxone [31]. For example, a recent systematic review of pharmacists’ effect on older adults’ access to vaccines in the USA revealed that pharmacists positively impacted older adults’ access to pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations [32]. Studies have also reported the lack of community pharmacy services such as 24-hour access, drive through, on site clinics, and delivery in low-income minority communities [2, 15, 33]. Finally, as type one pharmacy deserts comprise areas with higher indices of crime against people and property, it is likely that this may cause pharmacy stakeholders not to build independently owned or retail chain community pharmacies in the area.
Our findings are especially important because low-income minority communities often have the highest prevalence and incidence of chronic conditions. According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health 2017 Key Health Indicators, SPA 1 and SPA 6 had the highest percentages (14% and 12%, respectively) of adults ever diagnosed with diabetes and fared worse along with SPA 6, SPA 7, and SPA 4 regarding the age-adjusted diabetes death rate (32, 38, 26, and 24 deaths per 100,000 population, respectively). Antelope Valley also had the highest percentage of adults diagnosed with hypertension (30%) and ranked first, followed by SPA 6 and SPA 8 regarding the age-adjusted coronary heart disease death rate (149, 148, and 122 deaths per 100,000 population, respectively) [17]. A similar pattern emerged with the age-adjusted stroke death rate, and COPD/emphysema and pneumonia/influenza mortality rates as SPA 6, SPA 1, and SPA 8 fared worse for of these diseases when compared to the remaining 5 SPAs. In addition, SPA 6 had the lowest vaccination percentages for influenza and pneumonia and SPA 1 had the highest percentages of smokers [17]. Medications play a vital role in primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of each of the aforementioned public health issues. Given the preventive services that pharmacies provide, coupled with the fact that pharmacies are often the most accessible source for health care within the community, be it through delivery or 24-hour service, pharmacy deserts pose a threat to, and worsen community health and wellness outcomes [34].
This study has several limitations. First, we did not assess community pharmacy characteristics that impact access such as home delivery, medication shipping/mail order or 24-hour access. We also used census tract centroids as a proxy for residential address data to calculate travel distances. Furthermore, an assumption was made regarding medication procurement behavior: that the nearest community pharmacy to residents was their actual pharmacy home. Some residents might travel to a pharmacy outside of their community to procure their medications or use clinic or outpatient hospital pharmacies. Moreover, residents who live at or near the LA County boundaries might also travel to pharmacies in neighboring counties. While health indicators regarding disease burden in LA County were included, we did not include information on corresponding prescription medication availability in pharmacies. Finally, we only examined community pharmacies in LA County; thus, our results are not generalizable to other locations nationally or internationally. Nevertheless, this study extends the literature regarding pharmacy deserts in the USA. We excluded clinic-based and outpatient hospital pharmacies which often serve a closed target population. This allowed us to include the entire county population and served as a surrogate for their pharmacy use and medication procurement behavior at the community level. Furthermore, the utilization of an iterative K-means clustering analysis to characterize pharmacy deserts allowed for deserts that were more representative of diverse population of Los Angeles County.
Future research should investigate the associations between medication adherence and access and pharmacy deserts in LA County, specifically in poor minority communities. Researchers should also examine patient perspectives of medication procurement and medication use behavior in under-resourced settings. New research should explore the availability of medications in pharmacies as they pertain to disease burden and health outcomes within the county as this can inform policy. More specifically, such research can lead to federal funding to develop, implement, and evaluate equity-based programs that, in LA County, are tailored for each Service Planning Area, and increase access to pharmacies and medication for pharmacy desert residents. As limited community pharmacy access also has a business perspective, pharmacy business and local and federal stakeholders should also consider the social determinants of health when planning market entry. Clinicians should consider federal funding for implementation of interdisciplinary, team-based, innovative programs and networks that increase pharmacy and medication access for their patients. Finally, clinicians that serve poor minority communities should leverage community engagement and collective action to increase residents’ access to pharmacies and medications.