Saturday, 25 January 2025
11:00 am

Background: A new orthopedics and sports medicine clinic in a rural state was opened in early 2020, in an area with no previous academic sports medicine clinic. This retrospective study examines the correlation between referred adolescent sports injury patients' home residence from the clinic and the time it takes for them to present to an orthopedic/sports medicine physician, while also examining the demographics of the patients seen at this clinic.

Methods: All patients between the ages of 14-19 seen for initial visits for sports injuries during 2021 at the clinic’s two locations were reviewed. Patient demographics, chief complaints, home residence, and images/procedures performed were extracted from an institutional data warehouse. Standardized indices for urban vs rural determination for patients’ home county were utilized. We explored the time from injury to being seen at the clinic and compared that among patients’ home counties.

Results: The study included 475 patients, with 63% of the patients being male. Significant correlations between time from injury to being seen in clinic and increasing distance of residence (p=0.021), decreasing urban influence indicated by local address (as defined by Urban Influence Code) (p=0.007), and increasing rurality of address (as defined by Rural Urban Continuum code, p=.001) were shown. Patients with local addresses located in areas classified as Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) Areas were shown to have significantly longer lengths of time from injury to being seen in the clinic (p =0.016).

Conclusions: This study shows that adolescent athlete patients who live further away from the clinic locations and in more rural and/or less urban areas take longer to see sports medicine physicians after injuries. This delay in care could lead to further injury and worse outcomes. The cause for these delays is unclear, and future research and education is necessary to alleviate this healthcare disparity.