CHEST
Clinical InvestigationsAsthma and the Risk of Hospitalization in Canada: The Role of Socioeconomic and Demographic Factors
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
This analysis was based on data from the first cycle of the National Population Health Survey (NPHS), conducted by StatisticsCanada from 1994 to 1995. The methodology for this cross-sectionalstudy has been detailed elsewhere.11 In brief, the targetpopulation included household residents in all provinces, with theprincipal exclusion of populations on Indian reserves, Canadianmilitary bases, and some remote areas in Québec and Ontario. The NPHS used a two-stage stratified sampling design
Results
Table 1shows the crude 1-year cumulative incidence of overall hospitalizationin relation to various characteristics of the study participants. Thehospitalization incidence was higher among asthmatics (10.1% in menand 16.4% in women) than among nonasthmatic patients (6.9% in men and11.3% in women). The incidence was higher for less-educated subjects(8.4%) than for well-educated subjects (5.3%) in men, with similarresults for women. Those from low-income families were twice as likelyto be
Discussion
Asthma as a risk factor explains approximately 3% of overallhospitalization among Canadians ≥ 12 years of age. It is comparableto an estimate based on > 11 million hospital morbidity recordsduring a 3-year period (1994 to 1997; unpublished data) that 2.7% of total hospital admissions were because of asthma and relatedconditions. The following individual indicators of socioeconomic and demographic status increased the risk of overall hospitalization: olderage; female gender; and income. It seems
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Supported in part by National Health Research and Development Programgrant 6606–06-1998/2640023. Dr. Chen is a Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada/National Health Research and Development Program Investigator Award recipient.