Rates of pediatric emergency department visits vary according to neighborhood marginalization in Ottawa, Canada

Objectives

To determine the association between neighborhood marginalization and rates of pediatric ED visits in Ottawa, Ontario. Secondary objectives investigated if the association between neighborhood marginalization and rates varied by year, acuity, and distance to hospital.

Methods

We calculated rates of pediatric ED visits per 1000 person-years for census dissemination areas within 100 km of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario for patients < 18 years old from January 2018 through December 2020. The 2016 Ontario Marginalization Index categorized neighborhoods along quintiles of residential instability, material deprivation, ethnic concentration, and dependency. Generalized mixed-effects models determined the incidence rate ratios of pediatric ED visits for each quintile of marginalization; multivariate models were used to control for year of presentation and distance to hospital. Analysis was repeated for low versus high acuity ED visits.

Results

There were 154,146 ED visits from patients in 2055 census dissemination areas within 100 km of CHEO from 2018 to 2020. After controlling for year and distance from hospital in multivariate analyses, there were higher rates of pediatric ED visits for dissemination areas with high residential instability, high material deprivation, and low ethnic concentration. These findings did not change according to visit acuity.

Conclusions

Neighborhood residential instability and material deprivation should be considered when locating alternatives to emergency care.