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Socioeconomic Disparities in Gentle Skin Care Access for Atopic Dermatitis: Affordability and Pharmacy Deserts
Background:
Gentle skin care is key to atopic dermatitis (AD) treatment, yet products are often expensive. Pharmacy deserts may exacerbate socioeconomic disparities in AD.
Objective:
To compare the price of dermatologist-recommended skin care to popularly purchased products, and to assess the prevalence and accessibility of pharmacy retailers selling these products in low- versus high-income zip codes.
Results:
National Eczema Association (NEA)-recommended products were more expensive than popularly purchased products for moisturizing lotions ($2.72/oz vs $1.13/oz, P<0.0001) and liquid body soaps ($1.30/oz vs $0.35/oz, P<0.0001) across all retailers (Amazon, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Target, and Meijer). Lower-income zip codes had significantly lower densities of retail stores than higher-income zip codes in both Chicago (0.26 vs 3.20 stores/10,000 pop, P=0.0007) and New York (0.26 vs 2.90 stores/10,000 pop, P=0.02). Stores in low-income zip codes had fewer hours of operation in both Chicago (14.9 vs 19.2 hours/day, P=0.02) and New York (13.3 vs 21.0 hour/day, P=0.0002) and lower stock in both Chicago (2.0 vs 5.1 units, P=0.05) and New York (1.4 vs 4.8 units, P=0.03).
Conclusions:
Recommended products are more expensive than popular products. Retail pharmacies selling these products are less prevalent in low-income neighborhoods, have fewer hours of operation, and have lower average stock, exacerbating AD disparities.
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