Demographic characteristics, comorbidities and use of health care services among the general population, patients enrolled and patients eligible but not enrolled within the first 2 years before program implementation in Quebec
| Variable | No. (%) of people* | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population aged ≥ 40 yr† n = 4 043 955 | Vulnerable enrolment | General enrolment | |||||
| Enrolled n = 505 869 | Not enrolled n = 1 063 141 | Standardized difference‡ | Enrolled n = 352 384 | Not enrolled n = 2 042 543 | Standardized difference‡ | ||
| Age group, yr | −0.853 | −0.118 | |||||
| 40–49 | 1 399 458 (34.6) | 33 699 (6.7) | 253 701 (23.9) | 143 111 (40.6) | 946 807 (46.4) | ||
| 50–59 | 1 177 884 (29.1) | 68 075 (13.5) | 303 729 (28.6) | 138 721 (39.4) | 740 845 (36.3) | ||
| 60–69 | 785 691 (19.4) | 107 541 (21.3) | 259 932 (24.4) | 70 552 (20.0) | 354 827 (17.4) | ||
| 70–79 | 457 215 (11.3) | 218 163 (43.1) | 174 997 (16.5) | NA | NA | ||
| ≥ 80 | 220 113 (5.4) | 78 391 (15.5) | 70 774 (6.7) | NA | NA | ||
| Missing | 3594 (0.1) | 0 (0.0) | 8 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 64 (0.0) | ||
| Female sex | 2 079 367 (51.5) | 281 512 (55.7) | 603 040 (56.7) | −0.022 | 195 164 (55.4) | 957 321 (46.9) | −0.171 |
| No. of ECI categories, mean ± SD | 0.57 ± 0.87 | 1.26 ± 1.18 | 0.80 ± 1.00 | 0.424 | 0.29 ± 0.52 | 0.22 ± 0.48 | 0.143 |
| Neighbourhood income quintile | −0.022 | −0.074 | |||||
| Q1 (lowest) | 802 422 (19.8) | 108 911 (21.5) | 223 954 (21.1) | 59 713 (16.9) | 407 162 (19.9) | ||
| Q2 | 786 080 (19.4) | 103 836 (20.5) | 210 634 (19.8) | 65 660 (18.6) | 381 600 (18.7) | ||
| Q3 | 781 599 (19.3) | 95 395 (18.9) | 196 445 (18.5) | 72 634 (20.6) | 384 663 (18.8) | ||
| Q4 | 763 762 (18.9) | 93 118 (18.4) | 192 452 (18.1) | 73 162 (20.8) | 392 944 (19.2) | ||
| Q5 (highest) | 778 603 (19.3) | 88 794 (17.6) | 192 457 (18.1) | 77 909 (22.1) | 392 706 (19.2) | ||
| Missing | 131 489 (3.3) | 15 815 (3.1) | 47 199 (4.4) | 3306 (0.9) | 83 468 (4.1) | ||
| Residence | −0.124 | −0.077 | |||||
| Metropolitan | 2 655 942 (65.7) | 298 494 (59.0) | 685 284 (64.4) | 252 526 (71.7) | 1 361 442 (66.7) | ||
| Smaller urban | 703 685 (17.4) | 112 305 (22.2) | 180 674 (17.0) | 51 286 (14.6) | 341 448 (16.7) | ||
| Rural/remote | 584 843 (14.5) | 86 929 (17.2) | 165 944 (15.6) | 46 765 (13.3) | 269 430 (13.2) | ||
| Missing | 99 485 (2.5) | 8141 (1.6) | 31 239 (2.9) | 1807 (0.5) | 70 223 (3.4) | ||
| Use of health care services | |||||||
| Mental illness§ | 52 357 (1.3) | 10 667 (2.1) | 33 934 (3.2) | −0.067 | NA | NA | |
| Substance use disorder¶ | 19 909 (0.5) | 3352 (0.7) | 12 366 (1.2) | −0.053 | NA | NA | |
| No. of primary care visits, mean ± SD** | 3.26 ± 5.48 | 6.65 ± 7.46 | 4.28 ± 5.85 | 0.353 | 2.47 ± 2.65 | 1.80 ± 2.73 | 2.56 |
| No. of emergency department visits, mean ± SD** | 0.53 ± 1.69 | 0.86 ± 2.14 | 0.68 ± 1.99 | 0.085 | 0.26± 0.84 | 0.25 ± 0.87 | 0.005 |
| Proportion of visits with usual care provider, mean ± SD | 0.59 ± 0.43 | 0.59 ± 40.28 | 0.38 ± 41.92 | 0.522 | 0.44 ± 0.45 | 0.25 ± 0.40 | 0.443 |
Note: ECI = Elixhauser Comorbidity Index, NA = not applicable, Q = quintile, SD = standard deviation.
↵* Except where noted otherwise.
↵† In 2007.
↵‡ Reflects the difference in means or proportions between people enrolled and people eligible but not enrolled. We consider a standardized difference of 0.2 to be a small effect size, 0.5 a medium effect size and 0.8 a large effect size.
↵§ One hospital admission or 2 physician claims in the year before program implementation.
↵¶ One hospital admission or 1 physician claim in the year before program implementation.
↵** In the year before program implementation.