Socio-economic inequities in emergency department visits for wholly alcohol-attributable acute and chronic harms in Canada, 2003-2017.
Drug Alcohol Rev
; 43(4): 927-936, 2024 May.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38388158
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Individuals with low socio-economic position (SEP) experience disproportionate alcohol-attributable harm. Limited research has investigated whether these inequities are driven by alcohol-attributable conditions that are acute or chronic. The study aimed to estimate the sex-specific associations between SEP and incident wholly alcohol-attributable emergency department (ED) visits for acute and chronic harms, respectively.METHODS:
A cohort study was conducted using the Canadian Community Health Survey (2003-2008) linked to the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (2002-2017) in Alberta and Ontario. SEP was measured using educational attainment. Acute and chronic ED visits were captured in the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System follow-up data. Hazard models were fit to estimate the association between SEP and acute and chronic wholly alcohol-attributable ED visits.RESULTS:
The analytical sample included 88,865 respondents. In men and women, individuals with lower SEP had increased hazard of acute ED visits (women hazard ratio [HR] 1.75, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.07-2.87; men HR 3.47, 95% CI 2.29-5.25) and chronic ED visits (women HR 2.24, 95% CI 1.04-4.80; men HR 5.02, 95% CI 2.88-8.75). Acute and chronic wholly alcohol-attributable ED visit rates were higher in men than women. DISCUSSION ANDCONCLUSIONS:
The findings indicated lower SEP was associated with greater harms for both acute and chronic wholly alcohol-attributable ED visits when compared to their higher SEP counterparts. We conclude that gradients in SEP are associated with acute and chronic harms. These results highlight a need for equitable interventions that reduce the absolute burden of inequities in both acute and chronic wholly alcohol-attributable ED visits.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Socioeconomic Factors
/
Emergency Service, Hospital
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
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Female
/
Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
Drug Alcohol Rev
Journal subject:
TRANSTORNOS RELACIONADOS COM SUBSTANCIAS
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Country of publication: