Article ; Online: Healthcare utilization in Canadian children and young adults with asthma during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2023 Volume 18, Issue 1, Page(s) e0280362
Abstract: Literature is limited regarding the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on health services use in younger Canadian populations with asthma. We utilized health administrative databases from January 2019-December 2021 for a population-based cross-sectional study to ...
Abstract | Literature is limited regarding the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on health services use in younger Canadian populations with asthma. We utilized health administrative databases from January 2019-December 2021 for a population-based cross-sectional study to identify Ontario residents 0-25 years old with physician-diagnosed asthma and calculate rates of healthcare use. Multivariable negative binomial regression analysis was used to adjust for confounders. We included 716,690 children and young adults ≤25 years. There was a sharp increase of ICS and SABA prescription rates at the start of the pandemic (March 2020) of 61.7% and 54.6%, respectively. Monthly virtual physician visit rates increased from zero to 0.23 per 100 asthma population during the pandemic. After adjusting for potential confounders, rate ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) showed that the pandemic was associated with significant decrease in hospital admissions (RR = 0.21, 95% CI: 0.18-0.24), emergency department visits (RR = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.34-0.37), and physician visits (RR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.60-0.61). ICS and SABA prescriptions filled also significantly decreased during the pandemic (RR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.57-0.60 and RR = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.46-0.48, respectively). This Canadian population-based asthma study demonstrated a dramatic decline in physician and emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and medication prescriptions filled during the COVID-19 pandemic. An extensive evaluation of the factors contributing to an 80% reduction in the risk of hospitalization may inform post-pandemic asthma management. |
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MeSH term(s) | Humans ; Child ; Young Adult ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant ; Child, Preschool ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Pandemics ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; COVID-19/epidemiology ; Asthma/drug therapy ; Asthma/epidemiology ; Hospitalization ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care ; Ontario/epidemiology |
Language | English |
Publishing date | 2023-01-13 |
Publishing country | United States |
Document type | Journal Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't |
ZDB-ID | 2267670-3 |
ISSN | 1932-6203 ; 1932-6203 |
ISSN (online) | 1932-6203 |
ISSN | 1932-6203 |
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0280362 |
Database | MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE |
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