Is spatial accessibility a factor influencing the number of consultations in Porto Municipality?

Abstract

Data visualization, namely dashboards are widely used in helping target audiences such as the ACES and health investigators in the decision-making process. Taking this into consideration, the goal of this study is to elaborate a user-friendly dashboard that reduces the gaps of dashboards provided by the SNS, as well as understand if Spatial Accessibility has a statistical significant effect on the number of consultations in Primary Health Care. This analysis will be performed initially by applying the Pearson’s correlation test, then using the ANOVA and Kruskall-Wallis Test, finally by analyzing the Principal Components. Two mathematical methods were applied to calculate Spatial Accessibility, Two-Step-Floating catchment area method, and supply-to-demand ratio. Based on this study, it comes to light that the spatial accessibility differs between perishes within each county. The farther away the parishes are from the center, the lower the spatial accessibility. This result emerges when the calculation is made considering the supply-to-demand ratio, where the unit is the primary care center, having a statistically significant impact on the number of consultations. The Principal Component Analysis has demonstrated that certain types of consultations are more popular for specific age groups and that some of those age groups are influenced by Spatial Accessibility.

Date of Award	15 Jul 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Mário Amorim-Lopes (Supervisor)