Distribution of pharmacy deserts and its association with digital divide and residential redlining across the United States

Giovanni Catalano, Selamawit Woldesenbet and Timothy M Pawlik

PLOS ONE, 2025, vol. 20, issue 8, 1-11

Abstract: Background: Recent pharmacy closures across the US has increased the number of communities characterized as “pharmacy deserts.” Residential segregation and structural economic disinvestment including the digital divide may exacerbate inequities related to pharmacy access. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, pharmacy deserts were defined at the census tract level and their distribution was analyzed relative to the digital divide index (DDI) and residential redlining using multivariate logistic regression. Results: Overall, 3,105 (3.72%) census tracts were classified as pharmacy deserts comprising more than 10 million inhabitants (n = 10,215,249). Pharmacy deserts were more often Black (n = 398, 13% vs. n = 6142, 7.6%), Hispanic (n = 597, 19.0% vs. 7662, 9.5%), or American Indian and Alaska Native (n = 82,14.0% vs. n = 113, 0.1%) segregated communities (all p

Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0330027

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0330027

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