Better Primary Care Access Linked to Lower Disease Prevalence in Chicago

Adults in Chicago who live in areas with better spatial access to primary care reported a lower prevalence of major health conditions, according to a cross-sectional study published in BMC Public Health. Researchers calculated a primary care accessibility score for each of 6,603 participants in the Chicago Multiethnic Prevention and Surveillance Study and found that greater spatial accessibility to primary care was associated with lower prevalence of the self-reported conditions examined, which included obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, asthma, heart attack, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and breast cancer. The authors conclude that the findings underscore the potential population health benefits of improving equitable access to primary care.

To measure access, the researchers used an enhanced two-step floating catchment area approach, which combined the residential locations of study participants with the locations of primary care practices. Participants were grouped into quartiles of primary care accessibility, and the team fitted modified Poisson regression models to estimate prevalence ratios for the major health conditions. The researchers also carried out stratified analyses to evaluate whether the associations differed by neighborhood socioeconomic status.

The analysis drew on participants enrolled in the COMPASS cohort between 2013 and 2020. The study population had a median age of 53.9 years, with an interquartile range of 45.8 to 60.4 years, 49.5% of participants were women, and 85.4% were non-Hispanic Black. The authors note that primary care is a cornerstone of population health and that the study was motivated by marked socioeconomic and spatial health disparities in Chicago, where the relationship between individual-level access to primary care and major health conditions warranted closer examination.

Because the data were cross-sectional, the reported relationship is an association between individual-level spatial accessibility and condition prevalence rather than a demonstrated causal effect. The study examined the accessibility-prevalence relationship across the full study population and within strata defined by neighborhood socioeconomic status, providing evidence on how spatial access to primary care relates to the burden of major health conditions in a predominantly non-Hispanic Black urban cohort. Within that scope, the authors position the results as support for the potential population health benefits of improving equitable access to primary care in cities with pronounced socioeconomic and spatial health disparities.

Subject of Research: Spatial accessibility to primary care and the prevalence of major health conditions among adults in Chicago

Article Title: Spatial accessibility to primary care and major health conditions in Chicago: a cross-sectional study

Article References: Qi, H., Luo, J., Craver, A., Yang, Y., Connellan, E., Harriett, L. E., Stulberg, D. B., Ahsan, H., & Aschebrook-Kilfoy, B. (2026). Spatial accessibility to primary care and major health conditions in Chicago: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-29917-2

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12889-026-29917-2

Keywords: primary care, spatial accessibility, health disparities, Chicago, cross-sectional study, COMPASS cohort, chronic disease, public health, prevalence, neighborhood socioeconomic status, Spatial, accessibility