Geographic Access to Pediatric Retina Specialists in the United States

Background and Objective: With rising incidence of pediatric retina disease, this study aimed to identify geographic and socioeconomic factors that predict residential access to pediatric retinal specialists. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional, retrospective study identified pediatric retina specialists in the United States and de-identified census tract–level data from public datasets. An origin-destination cost matrix was used to calculate travel time to the closest pediatric vitreoretinal specialist. Results: Factors associated with greater travel burden to the nearest pediatric retinal specialist included residing in census tracts that were rural ( P < .001), in the South vs Northeast ( P = .009), low income ( P < .0001), and low education (associate and some college vs bachelor's degree; P = .003 and .015). Counties with higher proportion of very low birth weight infants had significantly less travel time ( P < .001). Conclusions: Counties with higher incidences of very low birth weight infants experience reduced travel durations to pediatric retina specialists. However, residents in rural, low-income, low-education census tracts, particularly in Southern regions, face greater travel burdens.