Socioeconomic Status, Asthma, And Emergency Department Use In Ontario, Canada

Socioeconomic factors are associated with asthma-related emergency department (ED) visits in the USA. This thesis reviewed the literature examining the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and asthma-related ED visits and hospitalizations. Secondly, it investigated if the SES of adult patients with asthma who visit the ED in Ontario, Canada is related to the frequency of ED visits. Using data from the Ontario Asthma Regional Variation Study and Statistics Canada's 2001 Census, the following SES characteristics of asthma-related ED visitors were described: age, sex, household income, marital status, highest level of educational achievement, and employment status. Using additional data from the Canadian National Ambulatory Care Reporting Service, univariate and multivariate Poisson regression analyses of SES characteristics on ED visit counts were conducted and demonstrated that lower household income and lower level of educational attainment were related to an increased risk of ED visits.