TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2018//
TI  - Is the use of emergency departments socially patterned?
JO  - International journal of public health
A1  - Colineaux, Hélène
A1  - Le Querrec, Fanny
A1  - Pourcel, Laure
A1  - Gallart, Jean-Christophe
A1  - Azéma, Olivier
A1  - Lang, Thierry
A1  - Kelly-Irving, Michelle
A1  - Charpentier, Sandrine
A1  - Lamy, Sébastien
SP  - 397
EP  - 407
VL  - 63
IS  - 3
N2  - 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>
LA  - en
SN  - 1661-8556
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00038-017-1073-3
ID  - ref1
ER  -