[Trend of travelling times for haemodialysis patients in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region between 1995 and 2008].
OBJECTIVE
We analysed the trend of travel-times for haemodialysis patients in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region between 1995 and 2008 in relation with the reforms concerning the health care provision of haemodialysis.


METHODS
We conducted this study using data from three cross sectional surveys for 1995, 1999 and 2002, including all dialysis patients, and from the Renal Epidemiology and Information Network register for 2008. The data focuses on sociodemographic, medical characteristics and travel-times for haemodialysis patients.


RESULTS
The number of haemodialysis patients increased from 1807 patients in 1995 to 3141 in 2008. The travel-time has decreased steadily between 1995 and 2008 (18.2 min versus 15, P<0.0001). The number of patients with a travel-time more than 45 min decreased from 7.2 to 3.5% between 1995 and 2008. The number of dialysis facilities has increased steadily between 1995 and 2008.


CONCLUSIONS
The favorable trend in the health care provision has resulted in an improvement of accessibility by reducing travel-times.
Équipe de recherche EA 3279 Évaluation hospitalière-Mesure de la santé perçue, laboratoire de santé publique, faculté de médecine, Aix-Marseille université, Marseille, France. benedicte.devictor@univmed.fr
Bénédicte
B
Devictor
Stéphanie
S
Gentile
Jean-Christophe
JC
Delarozière
Anne-Claire
AC
Durand
Philippe
P
Brunet
Yvon
Y
Berland
Roland
R
Sambuc
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014195:Travel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*