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Healthcare utilization in Canadian children and young adults with asthma during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To, Teresa; Zhang, Kimball; Terebessy, Emilie; Zhu, Jingqin; Licskai, Christopher.
  • To T; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
  • Zhang K; The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
  • Terebessy E; ICES, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
  • Zhu J; The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
  • Licskai C; ICES, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS One ; 18(1): e0280362, 2023.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2197156
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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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Asthma / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Observational study / Prognostic study / Randomized controlled trials Limits: Adolescent / Adult / Child / Child, preschool / Humans / Infant / Infant, Newborn / Young adult Country/Region as subject: North America Language: English Journal: PLoS One Journal subject: Science / Medicine Year: 2023 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Journal.pone.0280362

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Asthma / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Observational study / Prognostic study / Randomized controlled trials Limits: Adolescent / Adult / Child / Child, preschool / Humans / Infant / Infant, Newborn / Young adult Country/Region as subject: North America Language: English Journal: PLoS One Journal subject: Science / Medicine Year: 2023 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Journal.pone.0280362