Key result
Cardiovascular deserts leave ~64% of Romania's population over 30 minutes from specialized care.
Why the study?
Romania has the highest CVD incidence and mortality in Europe, but medical resources are concentrated in large cities while nearly half the population lives in rural areas.
Cross-Sectional (n=19,000,000)
Highlights a profound geographic maldistribution of cardiovascular care in Romania, with 64% of the population living in healthcare deserts, underscoring the urgent need for targeted infrastructure and telemedicine investments.
May restrict specialized CV care access for most Romanians; leaves open outcome impacts and mitigation strategies.
BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular deserts are areas that lack medical facilities, specialists and equipment to effectively diagnose, treat and manage cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Romania registers the highest incidence and the highest mortality due to CVDs in Europe. Population ageing is a significant concern, as it increases the risk of CVDs and the demand for specialised care. Although almost 50% of Romanians still live in rural areas, most medical resources are concentrated in a few large cities, leaving large parts of the country underserved. METHODS: This study used the Application Programming Interface (API) Matrix service from Google Maps and open data sources to identify cardiovascular (CV) deserts. RESULTS: This research indicates that over 64% of the Romanian population resides in areas lacking CV care, having to travel more than 60 km and over 30 min to reach the nearest facility that offers specialised treatment. Moreover, 14% live in areas affected by a high degree of cardiovascular desertification. These areas are primarily located in northeastern, southern and western Romania. They experience higher mortality rates from CVDs and an ageing population, along with a shortage of general physicians and a scarcity of cardiologists. CONCLUSIONS: The identified cardiovascular deserts in this study overlap mountainous regions, the Danube Delta and remote rural areas with poor transportation infrastructure. Implementing telemedicine or mobile healthcare services, involving community healthcare workers and policy support could be solutions to expand access to specialised care in cardiovascular deserts.
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Cioclu et al. (2024) conducted a cross-sectional in Cardiovascular healthcare access (n=19,000,000). Residence in a cardiovascular desert vs. Residence in areas with adequate cardiovascular care access was evaluated on Proportion of population residing in a cardiovascular desert (>60 km distance and >30 min travel time to nearest specialized CV facility). Over 64% of the Romanian population resides in cardiovascular deserts, requiring travel of more than 60 km and over 30 minutes to reach specialized cardiovascular care.
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