Changes to acute-care hospitalizations among Indigenous children and youth: Results from the 2006 and 2011 Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohorts.

Background: This study described the differences in the hospitalization rates of First Nations children and youth living on and off reserve, Inuit children and youth living in Inuit Nunangat (excluding Nunavik), and Métis children and youth, relative to non-Indigenous children and youth and examined rate changes across 2006 and 2011.

Data and methods: The 2006 and the 2011 Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohorts provided five years of hospital records that Statistics Canada linked to peoples' self-reported Indigenous identity as recorded on the census. Causes of hospitalizations were based on the most responsible diagnosis coded according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, Canada, aggregated by chapter code. Age-standardized hospitalization rates (ASHRs) were calculated per 100,000 population. Rate ratios (RRs) were reported for each Indigenous group relative to non-Indigenous children and youth.

Results: For the 2006 and the 2011 cohorts, ASHRs were generally higher among Indigenous children and youth than among non-Indigenous children and youth. For some health conditions, hospitalization patterns also varied across the two time periods within the given Indigenous groups. Among children, leading elevated RRs occurred for diseases of the respiratory system, the digestive system and injuries. Elevated mental health-related RRs were observed among all Indigenous groups for both cohort years of youth. Significant increases in mental health-related ASHRs were observed in 2011 compared with 2006 among all youth groups, except for Inuit youth living in Inuit Nunangat, possibly due in part to data limitations. Among Indigenous youth, elevated RRs were observed for pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium, and for injuries. For all youth (except Inuit), childbirth-related ASHRs decreased in 2011 compared with 2006.

Interpretation: Findings align with previously observed hospitalization disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children and youth. These data enabled the tracking of changes over time to partly address national information gaps about population health outcomes for children and youth, namely hospitalization.