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Kaim A, Saban M. Dynamic Trends in Sociodemographic Disparities and COVID-19 Morbidity and Mortality—A Nationwide Study during Two Years of a Pandemic. Healthcare (Basel) 2023; 11:healthcare11070933. [PMID: 37046860 PMCID: PMC10094509 DOI: 10.3390/healthcare11070933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2023] [Revised: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/21/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Social epidemiological research has documented that health outcomes, such as the risk of becoming diseased or dying, are closely tied to socioeconomic status. The aim of the current study was to investigate the impact of socioeconomic status on morbidity, hospitalization, and mortality outcomes throughout five waves of the pandemic amongst the Israeli population. A retrospective archive study was conducted in Israel from March 2020 to February 2022 in which data were obtained from the Israeli Ministry of Health’s (MOH) open COVID-19 database. Our findings, though requiring careful and cautious interpretation, indicate that the socioeconomic gradient patterns established in previous COVID-19 literature are not applicable to Israel throughout the five waves of the pandemic. The conclusions of this study indicate a much more dynamic and complex picture, where there is no single group that dominates the realm of improved outcomes or bears the burden of disease with respect to morbidity, hospitalization, and mortality. We show that health trends cannot necessarily be generalized to all countries and are very much dynamic and contingent on the socio-geographical context and must be thoroughly examined throughout distinct communities with consideration of the specific characteristics of the disease. Furthermore, the implications of this study include the importance of identifying the dynamic interplay and interactions of sociodemographic characteristics and health behavior in order to enhance efforts toward achieving improved health outcomes by policymakers and researchers.
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Caxaj S, Tran M, Mayell S, Tew M, McLaughlin J, Rawal S, Vosko LF, Cole D. Migrant agricultural workers' deaths in Ontario from January 2020 to June 2021: a qualitative descriptive study. Int J Equity Health 2022; 21:98. [PMID: 35842656 PMCID: PMC9287708 DOI: 10.1186/s12939-022-01692-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Nine migrant agricultural workers died in Ontario, Canada, between January 2020 and June 2021. Methods To better understand the factors that contributed to the deaths of these migrant agricultural workers, we used a modified qualitative descriptive approach. A research team of clinical and academic experts reviewed coroner files of the nine deceased workers and undertook an accompanying media scan. A minimum of two reviewers read each file using a standardized data extraction tool. Results We identified four domains of risk, each of which encompassed various factors that likely exacerbated the risk of poor health outcomes: (1) recruitment and travel risks; (2) missed steps and substandard conditions of healthcare monitoring, quarantine, and isolation; (3) barriers to accessing healthcare; and (4) missing information and broader issues of concern. Conclusion Migrant agricultural workers have been disproportionately harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Greater attention to the unique needs of this population is required to avoid further preventable deaths.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Michelle Tew
- Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers, Hamilton, Canada
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Tang IW, Vieira VM, Shearer E. Effect of socioeconomic factors during the early COVID-19 pandemic: a spatial analysis. BMC Public Health 2022; 22:1212. [PMID: 35715743 PMCID: PMC9205762 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-022-13618-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Spatial variability of COVID-19 cases may suggest geographic disparities of social determinants of health. Spatial analyses of population-level data may provide insight on factors that may contribute to COVID-19 transmission, hospitalization, and death. Methods Generalized additive models were used to map COVID-19 risk from March 2020 to February 2021 in Orange County (OC), California. We geocoded and analyzed 221,843 cases to OC census tracts within a Poisson framework while smoothing over census tract centroids. Location was randomly permuted 1000 times to test for randomness. We also separated the analyses temporally to observe if risk changed over time. COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths were mapped across OC while adjusting for population-level demographic data in crude and adjusted models. Results Risk for COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths were statistically significant in northern OC. Adjustment for demographic data substantially decreased spatial risk, but areas remained statistically significant. Inclusion of location within our models considerably decreased the magnitude of risk compared to univariate models. However, percent minority (adjusted RR: 1.06, 95%CI: 1.06, 1.07), average household size (aRR: 1.06, 95%CI: 1.05, 1.07), and percent service industry (aRR: 1.05, 95%CI: 1.04, 1.06) remained significantly associated with COVID-19 risk in adjusted spatial models. In addition, areas of risk did not change between surges and risk ratios were similar for hospitalizations and deaths. Conclusion Significant risk factors and areas of increased risk were identified in OC in our adjusted models and suggests that social and environmental factors contribute to the spread of COVID-19 within communities. Areas in north OC remained significant despite adjustment, but risk substantially decreased. Additional investigation of risk factors may provide insight on how to protect vulnerable populations in future infectious disease outbreaks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian W Tang
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Program in Public Health, Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, 100 Theory Drive, Irvine, CA, 92617, USA. .,Communicable Disease Control Division, Orange County Health Care Agency, Santa Ana, USA.
| | - Verónica M Vieira
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Program in Public Health, Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, 100 Theory Drive, Irvine, CA, 92617, USA
| | - Eric Shearer
- Communicable Disease Control Division, Orange County Health Care Agency, Santa Ana, USA
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Nazia N, Law J, Butt ZA. Identifying spatiotemporal patterns of COVID-19 transmissions and the drivers of the patterns in Toronto: a Bayesian hierarchical spatiotemporal modelling. Sci Rep 2022; 12:9369. [PMID: 35672355 PMCID: PMC9172088 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-13403-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Spatiotemporal patterns and trends of COVID-19 at a local spatial scale using Bayesian approaches are hardly observed in literature. Also, studies rarely use satellite-derived long time-series data on the environment to predict COVID-19 risk at a spatial scale. In this study, we modelled the COVID-19 pandemic risk using a Bayesian hierarchical spatiotemporal model that incorporates satellite-derived remote sensing data on land surface temperature (LST) from January 2020 to October 2021 (89 weeks) and several socioeconomic covariates of the 140 neighbourhoods in Toronto. The spatial patterns of risk were heterogeneous in space with multiple high-risk neighbourhoods in Western and Southern Toronto. Higher risk was observed during Spring 2021. The spatiotemporal risk patterns identified 60% of neighbourhoods had a stable, 37% had an increasing, and 2% had a decreasing trend over the study period. LST was positively, and higher education was negatively associated with the COVID-19 incidence. We believe the use of Bayesian spatial modelling and the remote sensing technologies in this study provided a strong versatility and strengthened our analysis in identifying the spatial risk of COVID-19. The findings would help in prevention planning, and the framework of this study may be replicated in other highly transmissible infectious diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nushrat Nazia
- School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave., Waterloo, ON, N2L3G1, Canada.
| | - Jane Law
- School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave., Waterloo, ON, N2L3G1, Canada
- School of Planning, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave., Waterloo, ON, N2L3G1, Canada
| | - Zahid Ahmad Butt
- School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave., Waterloo, ON, N2L3G1, Canada
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Buchan SA, Smith PM, Warren C, Murti M, Mustard C, Kim JH, Menon S, Brown KA, van Ingen T, Smith BT. Incidence of outbreak-associated COVID-19 cases by industry in Ontario, Canada, 1 April 2020-31 March 2021. Occup Environ Med 2022; 79:403-411. [PMID: 35022260 PMCID: PMC8764709 DOI: 10.1136/oemed-2021-107879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2021] [Accepted: 12/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The objective of our study was to estimate the rate of workplace outbreak-associated cases of COVID-19 by industry in labour market participants aged 15-69 years who reported working the majority of hours outside the home in Ontario, Canada. METHODS We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study of COVID-19 workplace outbreaks and associated cases reported in Ontario between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021. All outbreaks were manually classified into two-digit North American Industry Classification System codes. We obtained monthly denominator estimates from the Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey to estimate the incidence of outbreak-associated cases per 100 000 000 hours among individuals who reported the majority of hours were worked outside the home. We performed this analysis across industries and in three distinct time periods. RESULTS Overall, 12% of cases were attributed to workplace outbreaks among working-age adults across our study period. While incidence varied across the time periods, the five industries with the highest incidence rates across our study period were agriculture, healthcare and social assistance, food manufacturing, educational services, and transportation and warehousing. CONCLUSIONS Certain industries have consistently increased the incidence of COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic. These results may assist in ongoing efforts to reduce transmission of COVID-19 by prioritising resources, as well as industry-specific guidance, vaccination and public health messaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah A Buchan
- Health Protection, Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Peter M Smith
- Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Institute for Work & Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Christine Warren
- Health Promotion, Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention, Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Michelle Murti
- Health Protection, Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Clinical Public Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Cameron Mustard
- Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Institute for Work & Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jin Hee Kim
- Clinical Public Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Environmental and Occupational Health, Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Sandya Menon
- Health Protection, Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kevin A Brown
- Health Protection, Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Trevor van Ingen
- Analytic Services, Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Brendan T Smith
- Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Health Promotion, Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention, Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Yin XC, Pang M, Law MP, Guerra F, O'Sullivan T, Laxer RE, Schwartz B, Khan Y. Rising through the pandemic: a scoping review of quality improvement in public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Public Health 2022; 22:248. [PMID: 35130859 PMCID: PMC8822693 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-022-12631-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The COVID-19 pandemic generated a growing interest in and need for evidence-based tools to facilitate the implementation of emergency management strategies within public health practice. Quality improvement (QI) is a key framework and philosophy to guide organizational emergency response efforts; however, the nature and extent to which it has been used in public health settings during the COVID-19 pandemic remains unclear. Methods We conducted a scoping review of literature published January 2020 – February 2021 and focused on the topic of QI at public health agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The search was conducted using four bibliographic databases, in addition to a supplementary grey literature search through custom Google search engines and targeted website search methods. Of the 1,878 peer-reviewed articles assessed, 15 records met the inclusion criteria. An additional 11 relevant records were identified during the grey literature search, for a total of 26 records included in the scoping review. Results Records were organized into five topics: 1) collaborative problem solving and analysis with stakeholders; 2) supporting learning and capacity building in QI; 3) learning from past emergencies; 4) implementing QI methods during COVID-19; and 5) evaluating performance using frameworks/indicators. Conclusions The literature indicates that QI-oriented activities are occurring at the organizational and program levels to enhance COVID-19 response. To optimize the benefits that QI approaches and methodologies may offer, it is important for public health agencies to focus on both widespread integration of QI as part of an organization’s management philosophy and culture, as well as project level activities at all stages of the emergency management cycle. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-12631-0.
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Affiliation(s)
- X Cindy Yin
- Ontario Agency for Health Promotion and Protection (Public Health Ontario), Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Michelle Pang
- Ontario Agency for Health Promotion and Protection (Public Health Ontario), Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Madelyn P Law
- Department of Health Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada
| | - Fiona Guerra
- Ontario Agency for Health Promotion and Protection (Public Health Ontario), Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Tracey O'Sullivan
- Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.,LIFE Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Rachel E Laxer
- Ontario Agency for Health Promotion and Protection (Public Health Ontario), Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Brian Schwartz
- Ontario Agency for Health Promotion and Protection (Public Health Ontario), Toronto, ON, Canada.,Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Yasmin Khan
- Ontario Agency for Health Promotion and Protection (Public Health Ontario), Toronto, ON, Canada. .,Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. .,Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
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Long JA, Ren C. Associations between mobility and socio-economic indicators vary across the timeline of the Covid-19 pandemic. COMPUTERS, ENVIRONMENT AND URBAN SYSTEMS 2022; 91:101710. [PMID: 34663997 PMCID: PMC8514267 DOI: 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2021.101710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Covid-19 interventions are greatly affecting patterns of human mobility. Changes in mobility during Covid-19 have differed across socio-economic gradients during the first wave. We use fine-scale network mobility data in Ontario, Canada to study the association between three different mobility measures and four socio-economic indicators throughout the first and second wave of Covid-19 (January to December 2020). We find strong associations between mobility and the socio-economic indicators and that relationships between mobility and other socio-economic indicators vary over time. We further demonstrate that understanding how mobility has changed in response to Covid-19 varies considerably depending on how mobility is measured. Our findings have important implications for understanding how mobility data should be used to study interventions across space and time. Our results support that Covid-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions have resulted in geographically disparate responses to mobility and quantifying mobility changes at fine geographical scales is crucial to understanding the impacts of Covid-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jed A Long
- Department of Geography & Environment, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Chang Ren
- Department of Geography & Environment, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
- State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
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Strengthening the Collection and Use of Disaggregated Data to Understand and Monitor the Risk and Burden of COVID-19 Among Racialized Populations. CANADIAN STUDIES IN POPULATION 2021; 48:201-216. [PMID: 34629702 PMCID: PMC8488075 DOI: 10.1007/s42650-021-00050-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 10/30/2022]
Abstract
There is growing evidence that the risk and burden of COVID-19 infections are not equally distributed across population subgroups and that racialized communities are experiencing disproportionately higher morbidity and mortality rates. However, due to the absence of large-scale race-based data, it is impossible to measure the extent to which immigrant and racialized communities are experiencing the pandemic and the impact of measures taken (or not) to mitigate these impacts, especially at a local level. To address this issue, the Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership partnered with the Collaborative Critical Research for Equity and Transformation in Health lab at the University of Ottawa and the Canadians of African Descent Health Organization to implement a project to build local organizational capacities to understand, monitor, and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on immigrant and racialized populations. This research note describes the working framework used for this project, proposed indicators for measuring the determinants of health among immigrant and racialized populations, and the data gaps we encountered. Recommendations are made to policymakers, and community and health stakeholders at all levels on how to collect and use data to address COVID-19 health inequities, including data collection strategies aimed at community engagement in the collection of disaggregated data, improving methods for collecting and analyzing data on immigrants and racialized groups and policies to enable and enhance data disaggregation. Résumé Des plus en plus d'études montrent que le risque et le fardeau des infections à la COVID-19 ne sont pas également répartis dans la population et que les communautés racialisées connaissent des taux de morbidité et de mortalité disproportionnellement plus élevés. Cependant, en raison de l'absence de données ventilés selon le statut ethnique, il est impossible de mesurer comment les communautés immigrantes et racialisées vivent la pandémie et quel est l'impact des mesures prises (ou non) pour atténuer ces effets, surtout à un niveau local. Pour résoudre ce problème, le Partenariat local pour l'immigration d'Ottawa (PLIO) s'est associé au Laboratoire de recherche critique collaborative pour l'équité et la transformation en santé (CO-CREATH) de l'Université d'Ottawa et l'Organisation de la santé des Canadiens d'ascendance africaine (CADHO) aux fins de mettre en œuvre un projet visant à renforcer les capacités organisationnelles locales pour comprendre, surveiller et atténuer l'impact de la pandémie de la COVID-19 sur les populations immigrantes et racialisées. Cette note de recherche décrit le cadre de travail utilisé pour ce projet, les indicateurs proposés pour mesurer les déterminants de la santé chez les populations immigrantes et racialisées, et les lacunes que nous avons identifiés dans les données existants. Des recommandations sont faites aux décideurs politiques et aux acteurs communautaires et de la santé à tous les niveaux sur comment collecter et utiliser les données pour remédier aux inégalités en matière de santé liées à la COVID-19. Ces recommandations font référence aux stratégies de collecte de données visant à impliquer les communautés, à l'amélioration des méthodes de collecte et d'analyse des données sur les immigrants et les groupes racialisés, et aux politiques nécessaires pour permettre et améliorer la désagrégation des données selon le statut ethnique.
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