The Impact of Disasters on Populations With Health and Health Care Disparities

Context—A disaster is indiscriminate in whom it affects. Limited research has shown that the poor and medically underserved, especially in rural areas, bear an inequitable amount of the burden.

Objective—To review the literature on the combined effects of a disaster and living in an area with existing health or health care disparities on a community’s health, access to health resources, and quality of life.

Methods—We performed a systematic literature review using the following search terms: disaster, health disparities, health care disparities, medically underserved, and rural. Our inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed, US studies that discussed the delayed or persistent health effects of disasters in medically underserved areas.

Results—There has been extensive research published on disasters, health disparities, health care disparities, and medically underserved populations individually, but not collectively.

Conclusions—The current literature does not capture the strain of health and health care disparities before and after a disaster in medically underserved communities. Future disaster studies and policies should account for differences in health profiles and access to care before and after a disaster.