Distance to Primary Care Impacts Nonurgent ED Use, Cancer Screening

THURSDAY, Nov. 6, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Patients living more than 30 km from their family physician have increased odds of having nonurgent emergency department visits and having no visits with any family physician in the previous two years, according to a study published online Nov. 3 in CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.

Archna Gupta, M.D., Ph.D., from St. Michael”s Hospital in Toronto, and colleagues conducted a population-based study of 9,967,955 patients to examine how distance to primary care affects health care use and quality of care.

The researchers found that 12.7 percent of the patients lived farther than 30 km from their family physician. These patients had increased odds of having nonurgent emergency department visits in the past year and having no visits with any family physician in the previous two years (odds ratios, 1.43 and 1.28, respectively), as well as increased odds of not having had screening for colon cancer, breast cancer, or cervical cancer (odds ratios, 1.17, 1.24, and 1.17, respectively).

“Distance to health care services is an important determinant of health and can be classified as a factor of health care utilization, with increased distance a potential barrier to receiving care,” Gupta said in a statement.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the health care industry.

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