Table 2 Travel time to primary care and rheumatologists

Rural-Urban Continuum

nPatient (%)

nGP (%)

nVisit (%)

Median

Min

Max

Ratio to AB

METRO

20,194 (48.3%)

3,347 (52.7%)

225,283 (48.7%)

14 (IQR:7–25)

2

595

1.1

MODERATE METRO INFLUENCE

5,587 (13.4%)

884 (13.9%)

55,300 (12.0%)

20 (IQR:7–34)

2

565

1.5

URBAN

4,221 (10.1%)

580 (9.1%)

46,116 (10.0%)

9 (IQR:5–14)

2

682

0.7

MODERATE URBAN INFLUENCE

897 (2.1%)

108 (1.7%)

8,389 (1.8%)

20 (IQR:12–29)

2

502

1.5

RURAL CENTRE AREA

1,954 (4.7%)

281 (4.4%)

21,513 (4.7%)

10 (IQR:5–35)

2

583

0.8

RURAL

7,981 (19.1%)

993 (15.6%)

93,832 (20.3%)

6 (IQR:5–38)

2

685

0.5

RURAL REMOTE

954 (2.3%)

162 (2.5%)

12,050 (2.6%)

5 (IQR:5–79)

2

883

0.4

Alberta

41,788 (100.0%)

6,355 (100.0%)

462,483 (100.0%)

13 (IQR:5–28)

2

883

1.0

Travel time of rheumatologist visits by rural urban continuum (minutes)

Rural-Urban Continuum

nPatient (%)

nRheumatologist (%)

nVisit (%)

Median

Min

Max

Ratio to AB

METRO

8,282 (51.8%)

57 (72.2%)

12,052 (54.6%)

26 (IQR:17–36)

2

312

0.8

MODERATE METRO INFLUENCE

2,346 (14.7%)

5 (6.3%)

3,287 (14.9%)

36 (IQR:30–44)

2

373

1.1

URBAN

1,363 (8.5%)

10 (12.7%)

1,725 (7.8%)

105 (IQR:11–150)

2

527

3.1

MODERATE URBAN INFLUENCE

326 (2.0%)

0

444 (2.0%)

108 (IQR:27–141)

10

330

3.2

RURAL CENTRE AREA

669 (4.2%)

3 (3.8%)

732 (3.3%)

65 (IQR:52–114)

2

315

1.9

RURAL

2,695 (16.8%)

4 (5.1%)

3,473 (15.7%)

81 (IQR:51–131)

2

524

2.4

RURAL REMOTE

320 (2.0%)

0

379 (1.7%)

226 (IQR:165–331)

28

775

6.6

Alberta

16,001 (100.0%)

79 (100.0%)

22,092 (100.0%)

34 (IQR:21–51)

2

775

1.0