The Utility of Rural and Underserved Designations in Geospatial Assessments of Distance Traveled to Healthcare Services: Implications for Public Health Research and Practice

Table 1

Distribution comparison by rural designation.

	MUA		HPSA		Frontier
	Not designated; (𝑛 = 619)	Designated; (𝑛 = 1339)	Not designated; (𝑛 = 1133)	Designated; (𝑛 = 825)	Not designated; (𝑛 = 1487)	Designated; (𝑛 = 471)
UIC
Metro (𝑛 = 1030)	100.0%	30.7%	54.6%	49.8%	54.7%	46.1%
Nonmetro (𝑛 = 928)	0.0%	69.3%	45.4%	50.2%	45.3%	53.9%
	𝜒^2 = 815.52 𝑃 < 0.001		𝜒^2 = 4.44 𝑃 = 0.035		𝜒^2 = 10.62 𝑃 = 0.001
	𝜏 = 0.56 𝑃 < 0.001		𝜏 = 0.24 𝑃 < 0.001		𝜏 = 0.25 𝑃 < 0.001
MUA
Not designated			54.6%	0.0%	41.6%	0.0%
Designated			45.4%	100.0%	58.4%	100.0%
			𝜒^2 = 659.09 𝑃 < 0.001		𝜒^2 = 286.70 𝑃 < 0.001
			𝜏 = 0.58 𝑃 < 0.001		𝜏 = 0.38 𝑃 < 0.001
HPSA
Not designated					76.2%	0.0%
Designated					23.8%	100.0%
					𝜒^2 = 851.72 𝑃 < 0.001
					𝜏 = 0.66 𝑃 < 0.001

UIC: Urban Influence Codes.
MUA: Medically Underserved Area.
HPSA: Health Professional Shortage Area.