Abstract Rationale Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a broad group of disorders affecting the lung parenchyma, marked by variable inflammation and fibrosis of the alveolar walls disrupting gas exchange. Previous studies demonstrate that patients who live further from specialty centers experience worse outcomes. However, the relationship between proximity to care and socioeconomic disadvantage remains unclear. In this study, we explore how geographic proximity to a safety net hospital and median neighborhood income influence ILD outcomes. Methods This is a retrospective study conducted at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), which is a trauma one safety net hospital located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ICD-10 codes were used to identify patients with interstitial lung disease. Demographic data as well as median neighborhood income (MNI), clinical characteristics, medications and number of hospitalizations were collected. Patients were categorized into low, medium and high socioeconomic status (SES) based on MNI and comparisons of clinical characteristics, medications, and number of hospitalizations were made using chi-squared test and linear regression analysis. Results A total of 358 patients were identified. There were 286 patients in the medium SES category, which represented MNI of 56, 000-169, 000, 70 patients in the low SES category with MNI less than 56, 000, and 2 patients in the high SES category with MNI greater than 169, 800. The three most common zip codes fell within the low SES category and were all in neighborhoods surrounding HCMC (figure 1). A linear regression model evaluating pulmonary related hospitalizations (2016-2024) showed that for every 10, 000 increase in MNI, hospitalizations decrease by 0. 14 (p 0. 05) when controlling for age, type of ILD, sex, BMI, FVC 80%, and treatment. A second model using total hospitalizations as the dependent variable showed that a lower MNI is associated with slightly more hospitalizations, with every 10, 000 less per household the hospitalizations decrease by 0. 24 on average, although this did not reach statistical significance (p 0. 05). Conclusion Despite residing near a hospital with pulmonary specialty care, patients from lower income neighborhoods experience higher pulmonary related hospitalization rates. This suggests that geographic proximity alone does not eliminate disparities, rather that other social and structural determinants instead of transportation access may be the primary drivers in inequity in ILD outcomes. This abstract is funded by: None
Abdulkadir et al. (Fri,) studied this question.