Primary Care, Social Inequalities, and All-Cause, Heart Disease, and Cancer Mortality in US Counties, 1990

OBJECTIVES: We tested the association between the availability of primary care and income inequality on several categories of mortality in US counties. METHODS: We used cross-sectional analysis of data from counties (n=3081) in 1990, including analysis of variance and multivariate ordinary least squares regression. Independent variables included primary care resources, income inequality, and sociodemographics. RESULTS: Counties with higher availability of primary care resources experienced between 2% and 3% lower mortality than counties with less primary care. Counties with high income inequality experienced between 11% and 13% higher mortality than counties with less inequality. CONCLUSIONS: Primary care resources may partially moderate the effects of income inequality on health outcomes at the county level.