Midwest rural-urban disparities in use of patient online services for COVID-19.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Rural populations are disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We characterized urban-rural disparities in patient portal messaging utilization for COVID-19, and, of those who used the portal during its early stage in the Midwest.

Methods

We collected over 1 million portal messages generated by midwestern Mayo Clinic patients from February to August 2020. We analyzed patient-generated messages (PGMs) on COVID-19 by urban-rural locality and incorporated patients' sociodemographic factors into the analysis.

Findings

The urban-rural ratio of portal users, message senders, and COVID-19 message senders was 1.18, 1.31, and 1.79, indicating greater use among urban patients. The urban-rural ratio (1.69) of PGMs on COVID-19 was higher than that (1.43) of g

SUBMITTER: Huang M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9115171 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature