ArticleCMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne2025
Distance to primary care and its association with health care use and quality of care in Ontario: a cross-sectional study.
Article in CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Older immigrants' use of general practice in Denmark a register-based cohort study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Article
- Attachment does not equal access to primary care.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2026Article
- Travel Distance and Its Impact on Wait Time for Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography in Patients with Cancers.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn Canada, patients who move may choose to stay on their original family physician's roster, creating long distances to seek primary care. We sought to explore how distance to primary care affected health care use and quality of care.
methodsWe conducted a population-based study in Ontario, Canada, including urban and suburban patients enrolled with a family physician as of Mar. 31, 2023. The primary exposure was patients' travel distance to their physician. Outcomes included emergency department visits, primary care visits, continuity of care, and cancer screening rates.
resultsWe included 9 967 955 patients. Of these, 1 261 112 (12.7%) patients lived farther than 30 km from their family physician. These patients had greater odds of having nonurgent emergency department visits in the past year (odds ratio [OR] 1.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.42 to 1.44); having no visits with any family physician in the previous 2 years (OR 1.28, 95% CI 1.27 to 1.28); and not having had screening for colon cancer (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.18), breast cancer (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.23 to 1.25), and cervical cancer (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.18).
interpretationAmong Ontario patients living in urban or suburban areas and rostered to a family physician within a patient enrolment model, more than 10% of patients resided farther than 30 km from their family physician. Proximity to primary care was associated with higher use of primary care, reduced emergency department use, and increased uptake of recommended cancer screening, underscoring the importance of reforms that enhance access to care close to home.
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