@article{ref1,
title="Is the use of emergency departments socially patterned?",
journal="International journal of public health",
year="2018",
author="Colineaux, Hélène and Le Querrec, Fanny and Pourcel, Laure and Gallart, Jean-Christophe and Azéma, Olivier and Lang, Thierry and Kelly-Irving, Michelle and Charpentier, Sandrine and Lamy, Sébastien",
volume="63",
number="3",
pages="397-407",
abstract="OBJECTIVES: To analyse the association between patients' socioeconomic position (SEP) and the use of emergency departments (EDs). <br><br>METHODS: This population-based study included all visits to ED in 2012 by inhabitants of the French Midi-Pyrénées region, recorded by the Regional Emergency Departments Observatory. We compared ED visit rates and the proportion of non-severe visits according to the patients' SEP as assessed by the European Deprivation Index. <br><br>RESULTS: We analysed 496,388 visits. The annual ED visit rate increased with deprivation level: 165.9 [95% CI (164.8-166.9)] visits per 1000 inhabitants among the most advantaged group, compared to 321.9 [95% CI (320.3-323.5)] per 1000 among the most disadvantaged. However, the proportion of non-severe visits was about 14% of the visits, and this proportion did not differ according to SEP. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Although the study shows a difference of ED visit rates, the probability of a visit being non-severe is not meaningfully different according to SEP. This supports the assumption that ED visit rate variations according to SEP are mainly explained by SEP-related differences in health states rather than SEP-related differences in health behaviours.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1661-8556",
doi="10.1007/s00038-017-1073-3",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00038-017-1073-3"
}