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Background: Structural factors limiting access to surgical care require elucidation. We hypothesize transportation time to hospitals with surgical capacity disproportionately burdens minority populations., Methods: We identified hospitals with surgical capacity within a 20-mile radius of our city center. Using geocoding, we estimated travel times from each census tract to the nearest facility by car or public bus., Results: For 143 tracts within the county, drive time was 13 ± 4 min and bus time was 33 ± 15 min. Only 41.2% of the population had a facility within 30 min by bus; access was further diminished for those with minority race/ethnicity and/or no insurance. Bus time was associated with percent minority population in a census tract: for each 10% increase in minority population there was a 4.3-min increase in bus time (p < 0.001) when controlling for socioeconomic status and other characteristics., Conclusions: Geographic information systems analysis has potential to identify communities with disproportionate burden to access surgical services., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

HIV testing and diagnosis are the gateway into treatment and eventual viral suppression. With gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) persistently over-representing new HIV diagnoses in Canada, combined with the evolving nature of community social connection, an exploration of factors associated with recent HIV testing is warranted. As most studies of GBMSM rely on samples obtained from larger metropolitan regions, examining HIV testing from an under-researched region is necessary. With data collected from an online survey of LGBTQ+ persons 16 or older living, working, or residing in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, we used multinomial logistic regression to explore socio-demographic, behavioural, and psychosocial factors associated with recent HIV testing for GBMSM. In the final multivariate multinomial logistic regression model: sense of belonging was associated with more recently testing, as was having an increasing proportion of LGBT friends, app use to find sex partners in the past 12 months, access to the local AIDS service organization, and general sense of belonging to local community, among other. This analysis highlights the continued importance of enabling and need factors when accessing testing, and suggests areas for further testing promotion in physical and virtual spaces frequented by GBMSM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]