Validating use of diagnostic codes in Canadian administrative data for identification of adverse drug events.

AIMS: While diagnostic codes from administrative health data might be a valuable source to identify adverse drug events (ADEs), their ability to identify unintended harms remains unclear. We validated claims-based diagnosis codes for ADEs based on events identified in a prospective cohort study and assessed whether key attributes predicted their documentation in administrative data. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of 3 prospective cohorts in British Columbia, from 2008 to 2015 (n = 13 969). We linked prospectively identified ADEs to administrative insurance data to examine the sensitivity and specificity of different diagnostic code schemes. We used logistic regression to assess which key attributes (e.g., type of event, symptoms and culprit medications) were associated with better documentation of ADEs in administrative data. RESULTS: Among 1178 diagnosed events, the sensitivity of the diagnostic codes in administrative data ranged from 3.4 to 52.6%, depending on the database and codes used. We found that documentation was worse for certain types of ADEs (dose-related: odds ratio [OR]: 0.32, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.15, 0.69; nonadherence events (OR: 0.35, 95% CI: 0.20, 0.62), and better for those experiencing arrhythmias (OR: 4.19, 95% CI: 0.96, 18.28). CONCLUSION: ADEs were not well documented in administrative data. Alternative methods should be explored to capture ADEs for health research.

The Impact of reference pricing on prescribing patterns, costs, and health services utilization of proton pump inhibitors: A quasi-experimental study in British Columbia, Canada.

INTRODUCTION: The Reference Drug Program (RDP) was established to steer patients toward equally safe and cost-effective medication under British Columbia's public drug coverage. Each RDP class covers at least one reference drug, and non-reference drugs are reimbursed up to the cost of the reference drug. In 2016, the RDP updated to include proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). This study evaluated the impact on drug expenditures, prescription patterns, and health services utilization. METHODS: We identified a cohort of individuals covered by Fair Pharmacare who used PPIs, and a control group of H2 Blockers users. We used interrupted time series analysis on administrative data from June 2014 to December 2019 on the following outcomes: new users, day supply, expenditures, drug costs, reference drug use, and physician visits and costs. RESULTS: The RDP had little impact on overall PPI use patterns. We did not observe any changes in reference drug uptake, new users, physician visits, cost-savings, or significant changes to days supplied post-policy. Cost expenditure results were likely biased due to co-occurring changes to drug prices. CONCLUSION: Inclusion of PPIs to the RDP saw no cost-savings for the provincial drug program and had little impact on prescribing patterns. Overall, our findings are consistent with existing evidence that the RDP is safe for similar therapeutic alternatives, but the impact on PPI costs remains unclear.

Prescriptions for Antipsychotics: Youth with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities Compared to Youth without Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare antipsychotic use by youth with intellectual/developmental disabilities to youth without IDD as they transitioned from pediatric to adult health care services. In addition, antipsychotic use was compared between youth with different types of IDD (autism, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Down syndrome and 'other'). METHODS: Population level administrative health data was used to compare the dispensing of antipsychotics for youth aged 15 to 24 years with and without IDD, between 2010 and 2019. Because antipsychotics are associated with metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, we also examined the dispensing data for metformin. In addition, we examined dispensed antipsychotics between different types of IDD. For both dispensing of antipsychotics and metformin, we used multi-variable logistic regression to derive adjusted odds ratios. RESULTS: There were 20,591 youth with IDD and 1,293,791 youth without IDD. Youth with IDD had significantly higher odds of being dispensed an antipsychotic (7.13 (6.82, 7.44)), even when a diagnosis of a psychotic illness was included in the regression. Higher odds were found in all age groups. Youth with IDD also had significantly higher odds of being dispensed metformin (3.739 (3.323, 4.208)) compared to youth without IDD. Youth with autism, FAS and 'other' types of IDD diagnoses all had higher odds of being dispensed an antipsychotic compared to youth with Down syndrome. CONCLUSION: Compared to youth without IDD, youth with IDD were more frequently dispensed antipsychotics and metformin. These findings have important implications for the health of youth with IDD.

Validating methods used to identify non-adherence adverse drug events in Canadian administrative health data.

AIMS: Medication non-adherence is a type of adverse drug event that can lead to untreated and exacerbated chronic illness, and that drives healthcare utilization. Research using medication claims data has attempted to identify instances of medication non-adherence using the proportion of days covered or by examining gaps between medication refills. We sought to validate these measures compared to a gold standard diagnosis of non-adherence made in hospital. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of adverse drug events diagnosed during three prospective cohorts in British Columbia between 2008 and 2015 (n = 976). We linked prospectively identified adverse drug events to medication claims data to examine the sensitivity and specificity of typical non-adherence measures. RESULTS: The sensitivity of the non-adherence measures ranged from 22.4% to 37.5%, with a proportion of days covered threshold of 95% performing the best; the non-persistence measures had sensitivities ranging from 10.4% to 58.3%. While a 7-day gap was most sensitive, it classified 61.2% of the sample as non-adherent, whereas only 19.6% were diagnosed as such in hospital. CONCLUSIONS: The methods used to identify non-adherence in administrative databases are not accurate when compared to a gold standard diagnosis by healthcare providers. Research that has relied on administrative data to identify non-adherent patients both underestimates the magnitude of the problem and may label patients as non-adherent who were in fact adherent.

Population Level Mental Health Diagnoses for Youth with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities Compared to Youth without Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities.

There is evidence in the literature that youth with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD) experience mental health issues to a greater extent compared to youth without IDD. In addition, transition from pediatric to adult services may be a period of increased anxiety and mental health problems for these youth. This study used a retrospective cohort design using population level administrative health data to compare mental health diagnoses between youth with IDD and youth without IDD; particularly examining the period when youth transition from pediatric health services to adult health services. In addition, this study compared the mental health of youth with various types of IDD (Down syndrome, autism, fetal alcohol syndrome and other rarer diagnoses). Results showed that at the population level youth with IDD have greater odds of anxiety/depression or psychotic illness than youth without IDD. Adjusted odds of anxiety/depression or psychotic illness also varied with age, income level, sex, and type of IDD. Youth with fetal alcohol syndrome had the greatest odds of both anxiety/depression and a psychotic illness. Odds of anxiety/depression increased from age 15-19 years old. Odds of a psychotic illness increased from age 15 to age 24 years old.

Assessing the impact of psychiatric genetic counseling on psychiatric hospitalizations.

Psychiatric genetic counseling (pGC) can improve patient empowerment and self-efficacy. We explored the relationship between pGC and psychiatric hospitalizations, for which no prior data exist. Using Population Data BC (a provincial dataset), we tested two hypotheses: (1) among patients (>18 years) with psychiatric conditions who received pGC between May 2010 and Dec 2016 (N = 387), compared with the year pre-pGC, in the year post-pGC there would be fewer (a) individuals hospitalized and (b) total hospital admissions; and (2) using a matched cohort design, compared with controls (N = 363, matched 1:4 for sex, diagnosis, time since diagnosis, region, and age, and assigned a pseudo pGC index date), the pGC cohort (N = 91) would have (a) more individuals whose number of hospitalizations decreased and (b) fewer hospitalizations post-pGC/pseudo-index. We also explored total days in hospital. Within the pGC cohort, there were fewer hospitalizations post-pGC than pre- pGC (p = 0.011, OR = 1.69), and total days in hospital decreased (1085 to 669). However, when compared to matched controls, the post-pGC/pseudo index change in hospitalizations among pGC cases was not statistically significant, even after controlling for the higher number of hospitalizations prior. pGC may lead to fewer psychiatric hospitalizations and cost savings; further studies exploring this are warranted.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prescription drug use and costs in British Columbia: a retrospective interrupted time series study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prescription drug use and costs. DESIGN: Interrupted time series analysis of comprehensive administrative health data linkages in British Columbia, Canada, from 1 January 2018 to 28 March 2021. SETTING: Retrospective population-based analysis of all prescription drugs dispensed in community pharmacies and outpatient hospital pharmacies and irrespective of the drug insurance payer. PARTICIPANTS: Between 4.30 and 4.37 million individuals (52% women) actively registered with the publicly funded medical services plan. INTERVENTION: COVID-19 pandemic and associated mitigation measures. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Weekly dispensing rates and costs, both overall and stratified by therapeutic groups and pharmacological subgroups, before and after the declaration of the public health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Relative changes in post-COVID-19 outcomes were expressed as ratios of observed to expected rates. RESULTS: After the onset of the pandemic and subsequent COVID-19 mitigation measures, overall medication dispensing rates dropped by 2.4% (p<0.01), followed by a sustained weekly increase to return to predicted levels by the end of January 2021. We observed abrupt level decreases in antibacterials (30.3%, p<0.01) and antivirals (22.4%, p<0.01) that remained below counterfactuals over the first year of the pandemic. In contrast, there was a week-to-week trend increase in nervous system drugs, yielding an overall increase of 7.3% (p<0.01). No trend changes in the dispensing of respiratory system agents, ACE inhibitors, antidiabetic drugs and antidepressants were detected. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic impact on prescription drug dispensing was heterogeneous across medication subgroups. As data become available, dispensing trends in nervous system agents, antibiotics and antivirals warrant further monitoring and investigation.

Costs of major depression covered / not covered in British Columbia, Canada.

BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the world's leading causes of disability. Our purpose was to characterize the total costs of MDD and evaluate the degree to which the British Columbia provincial health system meets its objective to protect people from the financial impact of illness. METHODS: We performed a population-based cohort study of adults newly diagnosed with MDD between 2015 and 2020 and followed their health system costs over two years. The expenditure proportion of MDD-related, patient paid costs relative to non-subsistence income was estimated, incidences of financial hardship were identified and the slope index of inequality (SII) between the highest and lowest income groups compared across regions. RESULTS: There were 250,855 individuals diagnosed with MDD in British Columbia over the observation period. Costs to the health system totalled >$1.5 billion (2020 CDN), averaging $138/week for the first 12 weeks following a new diagnosis and $65/week to week 52 and $55/week for weeks 53-104 unless MDD was refractory to treatment ($125/week between week 12-52 and $101/week over weeks 53-104). The proportion of MDD-attributable costs not covered by the health system was 2-15x greater than costs covered by the health system, exceeding $700/week for patients with severe MDD or MDD that was refractory to treatment. Population members in lower-income groups and urban homeowners had disadvantages in the distribution of financial protection received by the health system (SII reached - 8.47 and 15.25, respectively); however, financial hardship and inequities were mitigated province-wide if MDD went into remission (SII - 0.07 to 0.6). CONCLUSIONS: MDD-attributable costs to health systems and patients are highest in the first 12 weeks after a new diagnosis. During this time, lower income groups and homeowners in urban areas run the risk of financial hardship.

For health or for profit? Understanding how private financing and for-profit delivery operate within Canadian healthcare (4H|4P): protocol for a multimethod knowledge mobilisation research project.

INTRODUCTION: Privatisation through the expansion of private payment and investor-owned corporate healthcare delivery in Canada raises potential conflicts with equity principles on which Medicare (Canadian public health insurance) is founded. Some cases of privatisation are widely recognised, while others are evolving and more hidden, and their extent differs across provinces and territories likely due in part to variability in policies governing private payment (out-of-pocket payments and private insurance) and delivery. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This pan-Canadian knowledge mobilisation project will collect, classify, analyse and interpret data about investor-owned privatisation of healthcare financing and delivery systems in Canada. Learnings from the project will be used to develop, test and refine a new conceptual framework that will describe public-private interfaces operating within Canada's healthcare system. In Phase I, we will conduct an environmental scan to: (1) document core policies that underpin public-private interfaces; and (2) describe new or emerging forms of investor-owned privatisation ('cases'). We will analyse data from the scan and use inductive content analysis with a pragmatic approach. In Phase II, we will convene a virtual policy workshop with subject matter experts to refine the findings from the environmental scan and, using an adapted James Lind Alliance Delphi process, prioritise health system sectors and/or services in need of in-depth research on the impacts of private financing and investor-owned delivery. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: We have obtained approval from the research ethics boards at Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia and University of Victoria through Research Ethics British Columbia (H23-00612). Participants will provide written informed consent. In addition to traditional academic publications, study results will be summarised in a policy report and a series of targeted policy briefs distributed to workshop participants and decision/policymaking organisations across Canada. The prioritised list of cases will form the basis for future research projects that will investigate the impacts of investor-owned privatisation.

Prevalence and predictors of primary nonadherence to medications prescribed in primary care.

BACKGROUND: Most research on medication adherence has focused on secondary nonadherence and persistence to therapy. Medication prescriptions that are never filled by patients (primary nonadherence) remain understudied in the general population. METHODS: We linked prescribing data from primary care electronic medical records to comprehensive pharmacy dispensing claims between January 2013 and April 2019 in British Columbia (BC) to estimate primary nonadherence, defined as failure to dispense a new medication or its equivalent within 6 months of the prescription date. We used hierarchical multivariable logistic regression to determine prescriber, patient and medication factors associated with primary nonadherence among community-dwelling patients in primary care. RESULTS: Among 150 565 new prescriptions to 34 243 patients, 17% of prescriptions were never filled. Primary nonadherence was highest for drugs prescribed mostly on an as-needed basis, including topical corticosteroids (35.1%) and antihistamines (23.4%). In multivariable analysis, primary nonadherence was lower for prescriptions issued by male prescribers (odds ratio [OR] 0.66, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.50-0.88). Primary nonadherence decreased with patient age (OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.90-0.92 for each additional 10 years) but increased with polypharmacy among patients aged 65 years or older. Patients filled more than 82% of their medication prescriptions within 2 weeks after their primary care provider visit. INTERPRETATION: The prevalence of primary nonadherence to new prescriptions was 17%. Interventions to address primary nonadherence could target older patients with multiple medication use and within the first 2 weeks of the prescription issue date.

Changes in comprehensiveness of services delivered by Canadian family physicians: Analysis of population-based linked data in 4 provinces.

OBJECTIVE: To describe changes in the comprehensiveness of services delivered by family physicians across service settings and service areas in 4 Canadian provinces, to identify which settings and areas have changed the most, and to compare the magnitude of changes by physician characteristics. DESIGN: Descriptive analysis of province-wide, population-based billing data linked to population and physician registries. SETTING: British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia. PARTICIPANTS: Family physicians registered to practise in the 1999-2000 and 2017-2018 fiscal years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Comprehensiveness was measured across 7 service settings (home care, long-term care, emergency departments, hospitals, obstetric care, surgical assistance, anesthesiology) and in 7 service areas consistent with office-based practice (prenatal and postnatal care, Papanicolaou testing, mental health, substance use, cancer care, minor surgery, palliative home visits). The proportion of physicians with activity in each setting and area are reported and the average number of service settings and areas by physician characteristics is described (years in practice, sex, urban or rural practice setting, and location of medical degree training). RESULTS: Declines in comprehensiveness were observed across all provinces studied. Declines were greater for comprehensiveness of settings than for areas consistent with office-based practice. Changes were observed across all physician characteristics. On average across provinces, declines in the number of service settings and service areas were highest among physicians in practice 20 years or longer, male physicians, and physicians practising in urban areas. CONCLUSION: Declining comprehensiveness was observed across all physician characteristics, pointing to changes in the practice and policy contexts in which all family physicians work.

The Use of Medically Required Dental Services by Youth with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities in British Columbia, Canada.

INTRODUCTION: The literature indicates that youth with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD), such as Down syndrome or autism, have poor oral health. A number of factors influence their oral health, including the use of medically required dental treatments. METHODS: This paper describes the first use of population-level administrative health data to examine the use of medically required dental services by youth with IDD compared with youth without IDD in Canada. RESULTS: Youth with IDD had 4-9 times the odds of a medically required dental treatment compared with youth without IDD. Odds varied with age and type of IDD. CONCLUSIONS: Youth with IDD used medically required dental services to a greater extent than youth without IDD. Use of medically required dental treatments by youth with IDD declined with age; this may indicate greater difficulty accessing services when youth transition from pediatric to adult services. These findings provide baseline information on the use of medically required dental treatments and can contribute to future assessments of dental services for youth with IDD.

Gaps in the System: Supporting People Living with Dementia.

Persons living with dementia and their caregivers often face challenges in accessing support for their complex needs. This study aims to understand how program administrators, people living with dementia, unpaid caregivers, and decision-makers perceive specific dementia care programs and whether they are adequately meeting the needs of individuals living with dementia. Forty semi-structured interviews were conducted between 2018 and 2020 in five North American jurisdictions. Three main gaps were identified (1) disconnected system infrastructure, (2) lack of comprehensive services to meet diverse needs, and (3) inconsistent understandings of dementia. Despite having programs in place, there remain significant limitations in systems that could be addressed to adequately meet the needs of individuals living with dementia and their caregivers.

The best defence is a good offence: Ensuring equitable access to primary care in Canada.

Ensuring access to primary care is a persistent challenge in Canada, and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing gaps. Public policy reform that only partially addresses these access issues, technological opportunities, workforce desires, or patient preferences creates an opportunity for private, investor-owned corporations to take ownership of primary care delivery systems. This article summarizes the history of the "public-private" conversation as it pertains to primary care, with a particular focus on investor-owned corporations. We outline how profit-driven, corporate healthcare impacts equitable access to care, increases spending on low-value services, and undermines the underlying values of Canadian healthcare systems. All of healthcare delivery requires rapid regulation and oversight by policy-makers, which would increase transparency of corporate care. There also must be parallel efforts placed on addressing the long-standing issues in publicly funded delivery of primary care that created the space for corporate care to grow.

Tolerability of bedtime diuretics: a prospective cohort analysis.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to validate, or refute, the common belief that bedtime diuretics are poorly tolerated due to nocturia. DESIGN: Prespecified prospective cohort analysis embedded within the randomised BedMed trial, in which hypertensive participants are randomised to morning versus bedtime antihypertensive administration. SETTING: 352 community family practices across 4 Canadian provinces between March 2017 and September 2020. PARTICIPANTS: 552 hypertensive patients (65.6 years old, 57.4% female) already established on a single once-daily morning antihypertensive and randomised to switch that antihypertensive to bedtime. Of these, 203 used diuretics (27.1% thiazide alone, 70.0% thiazide/non-diuretic combinations) and 349 used non-diuretics. INTERVENTION: Switching the established antihypertensive from morning to bedtime, and comparing the experience of diuretic and non-diuretic users. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcome: Adherence to bedtime allocation time at 6 months (defined as the willingness to continue with bedtime use, not an assessment of missed doses). Secondary 6-month outcomes: (1) nocturia considered to be a major burden and (2) increase in overnight urinations/week. All outcomes were self-reported and additionally collected at 6 weeks. RESULTS: At 6 months: Adherence to bedtime allocation time was lower in diuretic users than non-diuretic users (77.3% vs 89.8%; difference 12.6%; 95% CI 5.8% to 19.8%; p<0.0001; NNH 8.0), and more diuretic users considered nocturia a major burden (15.6% vs 1.3%; difference 14.2%; 95% CI 8.9% to 20.6%; p<0.0001; NNH 7.0). Compared with baseline, diuretic users experienced 1.0 more overnight urinations/week (95% CI 0.0 to 1.75; p=0.01). Results did not differ between sexes. CONCLUSIONS: Switching diuretics to bedtime did promote nocturia, but only 15.6% found nocturia a major burden. At 6 months, 77.3% of diuretic users were adherent to bedtime dosing. Bedtime diuretic use is viable for many hypertensive patients, should it ever become clinically indicated. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02990663.

Oral anticoagulant switching in patients with atrial fibrillation: a scoping review.

INTRODUCTION: Oral anticoagulants (OACs) prevent stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Several factors may cause OAC switching. OBJECTIVES: To examine the phenomenon of OAC switching in patients with AF, including all available evidence; frequency and patterns of switch, clinical outcomes, adherence, patient-reported outcomes, reasons for switch, factors associated with switch and evidence gaps. DESIGN: Scoping review. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, Embase and Web of Science, up to January 2022. RESULTS: Of the 116 included studies, 2/3 examined vitamin K antagonist (VKA) to direct-acting OAC (DOAC) switching. Overall, OAC switching was common and the definition of an OAC switch varied across. Switching from VKA to dabigatran was the most prevalent switch type, but VKA to apixaban has increased in recent years. Patients on DOAC switched more to warfarin than to other DOACs. OAC doses involved in the switches were hardly reported and patients were often censored after the first switch. Switching back to a previously taken OAC (frequently warfarin) occurred in 5%-21% of switchers.The risk of ischaemic stroke and gastrointestinal bleeding in VKA to DOAC switchers compared with non-switchers was conflicting, while there was no difference in the risk of other types of bleeding. The risk of ischaemic stroke in switchers from DOAC versus non-switchers was conflicting. Studies evaluating adherence found no significant changes in adherence after switching from VKA to DOAC, however, an increase in satisfaction with therapy were reported. Reasons for OAC switch, and factors associated with OAC switch were mostly risk factors for stroke and bleeding. Clinical outcomes, adherence and patient-reported outcomes were sparse for switches from DOACs. CONCLUSIONS: OAC switching is common in patients with AF and patients often switch back to an OAC they have previously been on. There are aspects of OAC switching that have received little study, especially in switches from DOACs.

Population-level use of gynecological health services by female youth with intellectual/developmental disabilities in British Columbia Canada.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that female youth with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD) experience poorer gynecological care compared to female youth without disabilities. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to obtain baseline data on visits to a health care provider for a gynecological issue for females with IDD and compare that information to the experiences of female youth without IDD. METHODS: This study is a retrospective cohort study using population-level administrative health data from 2010 to 2019 for females aged 15-24 years, with and without IDD. RESULTS: 6452 female youth with IDD and 637,627 female youth without IDD were identified in the data. Over the ten-year period, 53.77% of youth with IDD and 53.68% of youth without IDD had a visit to a physician for a gynecological issue. However, as females with IDD aged, the number of people seeing a physician for a gynecological issue decreased. In the group aged 20-24 years, 15.25% of females with IDD and 24.47% of females without IDD (p < 0.0001) had a Pap test done at any time; 25.94% of females with IDD had a visit for contraception management and 28.38% of females (p < 0.0001) without IDD had a visit for contraception management. Gynecological care also varied by type of IDD. CONCLUSIONS: Females with IDD had a similar number of visits for a gynecological issue as female youth without IDD. However, the reasons for visits and the age at which visits occurred differed between youth with and without IDD. As females with IDD transition into adulthood, gynecological care must be maintained and improved.

Population level administrative data evidence of visits to the emergency department by youth with intellectual/developmental disabilities in BC, Canada.

INTRODUCTION: The literature indicates that youth with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD) have poor health and that access to health services decreases as they transition from pediatric to adult services. At the same time their use of emergency department services increases. The objective of this study was to compare use of emergency department services by youth with IDD to youth without IDD, with particular emphasis on the transition period from pediatric to adult health care services. METHODS: This research used a population level administrative health data base for the province of British Columbia Canada for 2010-2019 to examine the use of emergency departments by youth with IDD (N = 20,591) compared to a population group of youth without IDD (N = 1,293,791). Using the ten years of data, odds ratios for visits to the emergency department were calculated adjusting for sex, income and geographical area within the Province. In addition, difference-in-differences analyses were calculated for age matched subsets of the two cohorts. RESULTS: Over the ten year period, 40.60% of youth with IDD visited an emergency department at least once, compared to 29.10% of youth without IDD. Youth with IDD had an odds ratio of visiting an emergency department 1.697 (1.649, 1.747) times that of youth without IDD. However, when odds were adjusted for a diagnosis of either psychotic illness or anxiety/depression, the odds for youth with IDD visiting emergency compared to youth without IDD were reduced to 1.063 (1.031, 1.096). Use of emergency services increased as youth aged. Type of IDD also affected use of emergency services. Youth with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome had the greatest odds of using emergency services compared to youth with other types of IDD. DISCUSSION: The findings from this study indicate that youth with IDD have higher odds of using emergency services than youth without IDD although these increased odds appear to be largely driven by mental illness. In addition, use of emergency services increases as the youth age and transition from pediatric to adult health services. Better treatment of mental health issues within this population may reduce their use of emergency services.

Declining Comprehensiveness of Services Delivered by Canadian Family Physicians Is Not Driven by Early-Career Physicians.

We describe changes in the comprehensiveness of services delivered by family physicians in 4 Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia) during the periods 1999-2000 and 2017-2018 and explore if changes differ by years in practice. We measured comprehensiveness using province-wide billing data across 7 settings (home, long-term care, emergency department, hospital, obstetrics, surgical assistance, anesthesiology) and 7 service areas (pre/postnatal care, Papanicolaou [Pap] testing, mental health, substance use, cancer care, minor surgery, palliative home visits). Comprehensiveness declined in all provinces, with greater changes in number of service settings than service areas. Decreases were no greater among new-to-practice physicians.