Sociodemographic Differences in Physician-Based Mental Health and Virtual Care Utilization and Uptake of Virtual Care Among Children and Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ontario, Canada: A Population-Based Study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

We sought to evaluate the relationship between social determinants of health and physician-based mental healthcare utilization and virtual care use among children and adolescents in Ontario, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

This population-based repeated cross-sectional study of children and adolescents (3-17 years; N = 2.5 million) used linked health and demographic administrative data in Ontario, Canada (2017-2021). Multivariable Poisson regressions with generalized estimating equations compared rates of outpatient physician-based mental healthcare use during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic with expected rates based on pre-COVID patterns. Analyses were conducted by socioeconomic status (material deprivation quintiles of the Ontario Mar

SUBMITTER: Toulany A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9982398 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature