Table 1.

Study characteristics

Author	Title	Country	Year	Objective	Type of pharmacies
Ikram et al	Disparities in spatial accessibility of pharmacies in Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States	2015	Examine the geographic variability in accessibility Identify possible “pharmacy deserts” in the study area	–
Emmerick et al	Farmácia Popular Program (FPP): changes in geographic accessibility of medicines during ten years of a medicine subsidy policy in Brazil	Brazil	2015	Describe historical stages of FPP Identify associated changes in geographic accessibility of medicines through FPP over time	Public and private
Qato et al	‘Pharmacy Deserts’ Are Prevalent In Chicago’s Predominantly Minority Communities, Raising Medication Access Concerns	Chicago, United States	2014	Examine whether access to pharmacies varied across Chicago communities based on their racial or ethnic composition	Community pharmacy defined as pharmacy licensed to dispense prescription to public
Todd et al	Access all areas? An area-level analysis of accessibility to general practice and community pharmacy services in England by urbanity and social deprivation	England	2015	Determine the percentage of population in England that has access to a GP within 20 min walk Compare accessibility of GP premises to that of a community pharmacy and how that varies by urbanity and social deprivation	–
Todd et al	Cutting care clusters: the creation of an inverse pharmacy care law? An area-level analysis exploring the clustering of community pharmacies in England	England	2018	Explore the clustering of community pharmacies in England and Determine the relationship between community pharmacy clustering, urbanity and deprivation	–
Lin et al	Access to Community Pharmacies by the Elderly in Illinois: a Geographic Information Systems Analysis	Illinois, United States	2004	Examine the current geographic accessibility to community pharmacies by the elderly in Illinois and Compare the accessibility in urban and rural areas	–
Domnich et al	Assessing spatial inequalities in accessing community pharmacies: a mixed geographically weighted approach	Liguria, Italy	2016	Explore the spatial accessibility to pharmacies in Liguria from the perspective of local characteristics Identify disparities and their sources	–
Padeiro et al	Geographical accessibility to community pharmacies by the elderly in metropolitan Lisbon	Lisbon-Metropolitan Area, Portugal	2017	Measure geographical pedestrian accessibility to community pharmacies by elderly people in the Lisbon	–
Casey et al	Pharmacv Services in Rural Areas: is the Problem Geographic Access or Financial Access?	Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota, US	2002	Analyze the extent to which problems with access to pharmacy services exist in rural areas of three states	Private
Amstislavski et al	Medication deserts: survey of neighborhood disparities in availability of prescription medications	New York, United States	2012	Characterize medication access at the community level	74% Independent 26% chain
Norris et al	Geographical access to community pharmacies in New Zealand	New Zealand	2014	Explore pharmacy numbers and location changes in NZ and assess its impact on people with poor access to pharmacy services	–
Law et al	The geographic accessibility of pharmacies in Nova Scotia	Nova Scotia, Canada	2013	Identify current geographic distribution of pharmacies in Nova Scotia Study the impact of closures have on the access to pharmacies	Private
Law et al	Geographic Accessibility of Community Pharmacies in Ontario	Ontario, Canada	2011	Study current state of geographic access to pharmacies and Simulate impact of possible closures	–
Pednekar et al	Mapping pharmacy deserts and determining accessibility to community pharmacy services for elderly enrolled in a State Pharmaceutical Assistance Program	Pennsylvania, United States	2018	Identify pharmacy deserts in Pennsylvania for elderly enrolled in a State Pharmaceutical Assistance Program	Private, Community pharmacy defined as pharmacy licensed to dispense prescription to public
Rushworth et al	A cross-sectional survey of the access of older people in the Scottish Highlands to general medical practices, community pharmacies and prescription medicines	Scottish highland	2017	Quantify issues of access to GPs, community pharmacies and prescribed medicine in older people	–
Chisholm Burns et al	Evaluation of racial and socioeconomic disparities in medication pricing and pharmacy access and services	Shelby county, Memphis, Tennessee, United States	2017	Determine if there are racial and socioeconomic disparities in community pharmacy access, drug pricing, and services	–
Ward et al	Assessing equity in the geographical distribution of community pharmacies in South Africa in preparation for a national health insurance scheme	South Africa	2013	Examine the ownership and geographical distribution of community pharmacies between 1994 and 2001	Private
Qato et al	Pharmacy Accessibility and Cost-Related Underuse of Prescription Medications in Low-Income Black and Hispanic Urban Communities	South Side Chicago, United States	2017	Examine the association between pharmacy accessibility, utilization and cost-related underuse of prescription medications among residents of predominantly low-income, Black and Hispanic urban communities	–
Sabde et al	Mapping private pharmacies and their characteristics in Ujjain district, Central India	Ujjain district, Madhya Pradesh, India	2011	Survey pharmacies and map them on GIS to study their location, rural–urban distribution and Study their relationship to roadways and healthcare providers	Private
Qato et al	The availability of pharmacies in the United States: 2007–2015	United States	2017	Examine the trends in availability of community pharmacies and pharmacy characteristics associated with access to prescription medicines	Public and Private