Characteristics and postvisit use of health care services of patients less than age 18 years
| Variable† | No. (%) of patients* | SMD other v. palliative care | SMD other v. home care | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palliative care n = 843 | Home care n = 326 | Other n = 52 828 | Total n = 53 997 | |||
| Characteristic | ||||||
| Age, mean ± SD, yr | 5.37 ± 5.42 | 7.94 ± 6.06 | 5.49 ± 5.07 | 5.50 ± 5.08 | +0.02 | −0.44 |
| Age group, yr | ||||||
| ≤ 1 | 348 (41.3) | 84 (25.8) | 15 536 (29.4) | 15 968 (29.6) | −0.25 | +0.08 |
| 2–5 | 161 (19.1) | 55 (16.9) | 16 216 (30.7) | 16 432 (30.4) | +0.27 | +0.33 |
| 6–12 | 198 (23.5) | 83 (25.5) | 13 881 (26.3) | 14 162 (26.2) | +0.06 | +0.02 |
| 13–17 | 136 (16.1) | 104 (31.9) | 7195 (13.6) | 7435 (13.8) | −0.07 | −0.45 |
| Female sex | 390 (46.3) | 135 (41.4) | 25 144 (47.6) | 25 669 (47.5) | +0.03 | +0.12 |
| Residence setting | ||||||
| Large urban | 573 (68.0) | 272 (83.4) | 50 035 (94.7) | 50 880 (94.2) | +0.73 | +0.37 |
| Small urban | 192 (22.8) | 31 (9.5) | 2009 (3.8) | 2232 (4.1) | −0.58 | −0.23 |
| Rural | 59 (7.0) | 14 (4.3) | 511 (1.0) | 584 (1.1) | −0.31 | −0.21 |
| Missing | 19 (2.3) | 9 (2.8) | 273 (0.5) | 301 (0.6) | −0.15 | −0.18 |
| Neighbourhood income quintile‡ | ||||||
| 1 (lowest) | 155 (18.4) | 82 (25.2) | 12 521 (23.7) | 12 758 (23.6) | +0.13 | −0.03 |
| 2 | 156 (18.5) | 66 (20.2) | 9139 (17.3) | 9361 (17.3) | −0.03 | −0.08 |
| 3 | 156 (18.5) | 61 (18.7) | 8912 (16.9) | 9129 (16.9) | −0.04 | −0.05 |
| 4 | 193 (22.9) | 58 (17.8) | 9326 (17.7) | 9577 (17.7) | −0.13 | 0 |
| 5 (highest) | 175 (20.8) | 54 (16.6) | 12 736 (24.1) | 12 965 (24.0) | +0.08 | +0.19 |
| Limited proficiency in English or French | ¶ | ¶ | 917 (1.7) | ¶ | 0.07 | 0.04 |
| Immigrant | 14 (1.7) | 11 (3.4) | 1304 (2.5) | 1329 (2.5) | +0.06 | −0.05 |
| Comorbidities§ | ||||||
| Any complex chronic medical condition | 468 (55.5) | 227 (69.6) | 2041 (3.9) | 2736 (5.1) | −1.37 | −1.87 |
| Mental health condition | ¶ | ¶ | 590 (1.1) | ¶ | 0.01 | 0.01 |
| Asthma | 158 (18.7) | 98 (30.1) | 9358 (17.7) | 9614 (17.8) | −0.03 | −0.29 |
| Post partum or post birth | 89 (10.6) | ¶ | 2239 (4.2) | ¶ | −0.24 | ¶ |
| No. of previous outpatient visits, median (IQR) | 16 (6–49) | 14 (8–27) | 5 (3–9) | 5 (3–10) | −0.84 | −1.13 |
| Emergency department visit in previous 30 d | 138 (16.4) | 52 (16.0) | 2873 (5.4) | 3063 (5.7) | −0.36 | −0.35 |
| Hospital discharge in previous 30 d | 219 (26.0) | 53 (16.3) | 1376 (2.6) | 1648 (3.1) | −0.71 | −0.48 |
| No. of home care visits in previous 30 d | ||||||
| 0 | 526 (62.4) | 0 (0.0) | 52 721 (99.8) | 53 247 (98.6) | +1.09 | +31.39 |
| 1 | 54 (6.4) | 0 (0.0) | 107 (0.2) | 161 (0.3) | −0.32 | +0.06 |
| ≥ 2 | 263 (31.2) | 326 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 589 (1.1) | −0.95 | 0 |
| Primary care attachment | ||||||
| Formally enrolled | 394 (46.7) | 122 (37.4) | 22 919 (43.4) | 23 435 (43.4) | −0.07 | +0.12 |
| Other | 293 (34.8) | 158 (48.5) | 25 079 (47.5) | 25 530 (47.3) | +0.26 | −0.02 |
| No primary care | 156 (18.5) | 46 (14.1) | 4830 (9.1) | 5032 (9.3) | −0.27 | −0.16 |
| Home visit physician was enrolling primary care physician | 152 (18.0) | 40 (12.3) | 3070 (5.8) | 3262 (6.0) | −0.38 | −0.23 |
| Home visit physician was same as enrolled primary care physician or in same group | 179 (21.2) | 43 (13.2) | 3811 (7.2) | 4033 (7.5) | −0.41 | −0.20 |
| Home visit physician was known to patient from visit in previous year | 515 (61.1) | 101 (31.0) | 7735 (14.6) | 8351 (15.5) | −1.09 | −0.40 |
| Postvisit use of health care services | ||||||
| No. of repeat home visits in subsequent year, median (IQR) | 0 (0–4) | 0 (0–2) | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–1) | −0.37 | −0.24 |
| No. of repeat home visits in subsequent year | ||||||
| 0 | 443 (52.6) | 176 (54.0) | 33 704 (63.8) | 34 323 (63.6) | +0.23 | +0.20 |
| 1 | 75 (8.9) | 62 (19.0) | 10 103 (19.1) | 10 240 (19.0) | +0.30 | 0 |
| 2 | 56 (6.6) | 34 (10.4) | 4168 (7.9) | 4258 (7.9) | +0.05 | −0.09 |
| ≥ 3 | 269 (31.9) | 54 (16.6) | 4853 (9.2) | 5176 (9.6) | −0.59 | −0.22 |
| No. of repeat home visits with same physician in subsequent year | ||||||
| 0 | 516 (61.2) | 241 (73.9) | 44 052 (83.4) | 44 809 (83.0) | +0.51 | +0.23 |
| 1 | 91 (10.8) | 46 (14.1) | 5716 (10.8) | 5853 (10.8) | 0 | −0.10 |
| 2 | 64 (7.6) | 14 (4.3) | 1577 (3.0) | 1655 (3.1) | −0.21 | −0.07 |
| ≥ 3 | 172 (20.4) | 25 (7.7) | 1483 (2.8) | 1680 (3.1) | −0.57 | −0.22 |
| Outpatient visit within 30 d | 385 (45.7) | 159 (48.8) | 19 895 (37.7) | 20 439 (37.9) | −0.16 | −0.23 |
| Emergency department visit within 30 d | 111 (13.2) | 57 (17.5) | 4803 (9.1) | 4971 (9.2) | −0.13 | −0.25 |
| Urgent hospital admission within 30 d | 62 (7.4) | 33 (10.1) | 493 (0.9) | 588 (1.1) | −0.33 | −0.41 |
Note: IQR = interquartile range, SD = standard deviation, SMD = standardized mean difference.
↵* Except where noted otherwise.
↵† “Home visit physician was in same group as enrolled primary care physician” suppressed owing to small numbers.
↵‡ Values missing for 207 patients.
↵§ Dementia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure were not reported in this group.
↵¶ Cells suppressed to prevent re-identification of groups with fewer than 6 people.