Double trouble of medical deserts: obesity and hypertension…
Two sites acting in the field of public health (Withings and Doctolib) publish a study (1) in which inequalities in terms of medical care emerge within the French departments .
In order to be more relevant in their approach, a UFC healthcare access card “Que Choisir” was used as a starting point. What are their conclusions?
The study in question
Doctolib, a platform for making medical appointments, and Withings, a site oriented towards connected objects, have combined three types of data on access for all to care.
These data are:
- The Body Mass Index (which you can calculate at this address: http://www.calculersonimc.fr/faites-le-test.html ) , blood pressure, inactivity of hypertensive and/or overweight subjects,
- The number of GPs per department,
- The average waiting time to make an appointment with them. For the authors of the study, community doctors have a key role to play in the management of these pathologies.
You should know that the average waiting time in France for obtaining an appointment with your GP is six days . In addition, the share of the hypertensive population is around 20% and that of overweight is around 45%. These data are national averages which serve as a basis for highlighting, on the one hand, the most favored departments and, on the other, those considered to be areas at risk.
Top ranked departments
We find, unsurprisingly, the Alpes Maritimes with less than 20% of hypertensive people and 44% of overweight people . The average waiting time is three days in this department.
The Yvelines obtain 15% of hypertensive individuals and 44% of overweight subjects. The waiting time for an appointment is four days.
Finally, the capital, since in Paris, 17% of hypertensive subjects and less than 40% of overweight individuals (38% precisely) wait an average of five days to consult their general practitioner.
The lowest ranked departments
In Saône-et-Loire, the average waiting time to obtain an appointment with your local doctor is… sixteen days . Overweight people are numerous: 48% and those who are hypertensive are around 28%.
It is the same thing for the department of Seine-et-Marne with the same number of hypertensives as in Saône-et-Loire with a little more overweight subjects since they are 51%. The waiting time is more reasonable: nine days to visit your local doctor.
The last department scrutinized is the Var which shows 47% of inhabitants overweight and 24% of people with hypertension. The waiting time is also nine days.
Thus, it is clear that all the measures taken seem to be derisory and the scale of the risks, in terms of public health, is problematic: the departments which need medical care the most lack more general practitioners.
Do the solutions come from the web?
It seems that the solutions best suited to the constraints encountered by patients come from the Internet, which is an interesting alternative to this conclusion of medical deserts. Because, although there have been tax and financial benefits and employment contracts for students, young doctors are not attracted to so-called sensitive areas. Incentives are therefore unnecessary and insufficient.
Emphasis is thus placed on easy access to making appointments via platforms specialized in the field of health. Moreover, as nothing beats prevention, it remains desirable that portals specializing in overweight, such as CalculateYoursBMI , practice the promotion of a better lifestyle in terms of sports activity and nutritional advice.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.