Heart Health and Stroke

Direct care physician to population ratio

One component of a healthy lifestyle is regular physical exams by a physician. Routine care can detect hypertension. Controlling hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors reduces the chances of developing more serious heart problems. Access to physician services is required for residents to utilize these services. In 2004, there were 2,748 direct care physicians in Bexar County and the ratio of direct care physician to the population per 100,000 is 184. The trend data shows that this rate is constant over the last 12 years for Texas and for Harris and Bexar Counties. The distribution of physicians within Bexar County is skewed toward the sectors in the north of the county, 72 percent of physicians in Bexar County practice in the north, one half of these are located near the South Texas Medical Center in the East Northwest area. An additional 16 percent have offices in the central (downtown) area. The remaining 12 percent of physicians practice in the southern part of the county. Health insurance coverage helps provide access to health care services. An estimated 24.6 percent of the Texas population, or 5.4 million persons, were uninsured in 2004. In San Antonio it is estimated that 24.3 percent or 363,033 residents of the county are uninsured⁷¹.

Hospitalization rate for Heart Disease

If cardiovascular risk factors are managed properly the chance of being hospitalized for cardiovascular problems is greatly reduced. There were 17,642 hospitalizations for heart disease in Bexar County in 2004. This is 113 discharges for every 10,000 Bexar County residents. This rate is similar to the Harris County rate of 111/10,000, and somewhat lower than the Texas rate of 134/10,000.

In the East sector, the hospitalization rate (180/10,000) for heart diseases exceeds that for all other sectors in the county. This rate is more than double of the Northeast sector rate of 84/10,000. The concentration of African Americans living in the East sector contributes to the high rate. In the East sector the hospitalization rate for African Americans is two times that of the White population. The second highest rate in the county is the South sector (133/10,000). Loss rates of social and/or environmental determinants such as education and income may have an influence on heart disease morbidity in the South sector.