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Volume 31, Number 4—April 2025
Research

Population-Based Matched Cohort Study of COVID-19 Healthcare Costs, Ontario, Canada

Beate SanderComments to Author , Sharmistha Mishra, Sarah Swayze, Yeva Sahakyan, Raquel Duchen, Kieran Quinn, Naveed Janjua, Hind Sbihi, and Jeffrey Kwong
Author affiliation: ICES, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (B. Sander, S. Mishra, S. Swayze, R. Duchen, K. Quinn, J. Kwong); University of Toronto, Toronto (B. Sander, S. Mishra, K. Quinn, J. Kwong); University Health Network, Toronto (B. Sander, Y. Sahakyan); Public Health Ontario, Toronto (B. Sander, J. Kwong); Unity Health Toronto, Toronto (S. Mishra); British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (N. Janjua, H. Sbihi); University of British Columbia, Vancouver (H. Sbihi)

Main Article

Table 1

Demographics of persons exposed to COVID-19 and unexposed persons before and after matching, Ontario, Canada*

Characteristics Prematched
Matched
Unmatched exposed, 
n = 6,021
Exposed, 
n = 165,838 Unexposed, 
n = 6,641,074 SMD Exposed, 
n = 159,817 Unexposed, 
n = 159,817 SMD
Age at index, y, mean ± SD 40.4 ± 19.7 40.5 ± 22.8 0.01 40.4 ± 19.8 40.5 ± 19.9 0.01 39.9 ± 18.2
Female 84,013 (50.7) 3,362,838 (50.6) 0.00 80,987 (50.7) 80,987 (50.7) 0.00 3,026 (50.3)
Male 81,825 (49.3) 3,278,236 (49.4) 0.00 78,830 (49.3) 78,830 (49.3) 0.00 2,995 (49.7)
Rural 5,691 (3.4) 95,577 (10.5) 0.28 5,641 (3.5) 5,655 (3.5) 0.00 50 (0.8)
Immigrant 63,962 (38.6) 1,167,364 (17.6) 0.48 60,357 (37.8) 59,435 (37.2) 0.01 3,605 (59.9)
Frail 4,152 (2.5) 124,329 (1.9) 0.04 3,729 (2.3) 5,580 (3.5) 0.07 423 (7.0)
ACG, mean ± SD 4.9 ± 3.5 4.1 ± 3.3 0.24 4.9 ± 3.5 4.7 ± 3.4 0.06 5.4 ± 3.4
Died during follow-up†
3,357 (2.0)
214,864 (3.2)
0.08

3,222 (2.0)
4,437 (2.8)
0.05

135 (2.2)
Neighborhood income, lowest to highest
1st quintile 40,878 (24.6) 1,298,211 (19.5) 0.12 39,182 (24.5) 39,182 (24.5) 0.00 1,696 (28.2)
2nd quintile 36,212 (21.8) 1,303,219 (19.6) 0.05 34,653 (21.7) 34,653 (21.7) 0.00 1,559 (25.9)
3rd quintile 36,205 (21.8) 1,331,629 (20.1) 0.04 34,731 (21.7) 34,731 (21.7) 0.00 1,474 (24.5)
4th quintile 29,252 (17.6) 1,342,461 (20.2) 0.07 28,385 (17.8) 28,385 (17.8) 0.00 867 (14.4)
5th quintile
23,291 (14.0)
1,365,554 (20.6)
0.17

22,866 (14.3)
22,866 (14.3)
0.00

425 (7.1)
Age and labor force, lowest to highest
1st quintile 59,199 (35.7) 1,798,679 (27.1) 0.19 57,196 (35.8) 56,584 (35.4) 0.01 2,017 (33.5)
2nd quintile 37,644 (22.7) 1,351,752 (20.4) 0.06 36,069 (22.6) 36,258 (22.7) 0.00 1,582 (26.3)
3rd quintile 26,766 (16.1) 1,163,844 (17.5) 0.04 25,800 (16.1) 25,945 (16.2) 0.00 954 (15.8)
4th quintile 22,439 (13.5) 1,114,963 (16.8) 0.09 21,664 (13.6) 21,702 (13.6) 0.00 754 (12.5)
5th quintile
18,896 (11.4)
1,166,635 (17.6)
0.18

18,245 (11.4)
18,884 (11.8)
0.01

667 (11.1)
Material resource, lowest to highest
1st quintile 27,993 (16.9) 1,511,973 (22.8) 0.15 27,408 (17.1) 27,528 (17.2) 0.00 594 (9.9)
2nd quintile 28,849 (17.4) 1,390,533 (20.9) 0.09 27,953 (17.5) 28,033 (17.5) 0.00 836 (13.9)
3rd quintile 32,509 (19.6) 1,258,511 (19.0) 0.02 31,358 (19.6) 31,305 (19.6) 0.00 1,215 (20.2)
4th quintile 34,440 (20.8) 1,204,487 (18.1) 0.07 32,887 (20.6) 33,218 (20.8) 0.01 1,558 (25.9)
5th quintile
41,153 (24.8)
1,230,369 (18.5)
0.15

39,368 (24.6)
39,289 (24.6)
0.00

1,771 (29.4)
Racialized and newcomer populations, lowest to highest
1st quintile 9,144 (5.5) 1,043,527 (15.7) 0.34 8,949 (5.6) 9,544 (6.0) 0.02 147 (2.4)
2nd quintile 13,599 (8.2) 1,100,621 (16.6) 0.26 13,348 (8.4) 13,428 (8.4) 0.00 314 (5.2)
3rd quintile 20,746 (12.5) 1,185,255 (17.8) 0.15 20,191 (12.6) 20,517 (12.8) 0.01 513 (8.5)
4th quintile 35,081 (21.2) 1,395,258 (21.0) 0.00 34,095 (21.3) 34,234 (21.4) 0.00 1,023 (17.0)
5th quintile
86,374 (52.1)
1,871,212 (28.2)
0.50

82,391 (51.6)
81,650 (51.1)
0.01

3,977 (66.1)
Households and dwellings, lowest to highest
1st quintile 47,713 (28.8) 1,466,510 (22.1) 0.15 45,676 (28.6) 44,950 (28.1) 0.01 2,034 (33.8)
2nd quintile 27,501 (16.6) 1,262,030 (19.0) 0.06 26,486 (16.6) 26,535 (16.6) 0.00 991 (16.5)
3rd quintile 25,258 (15.2) 1,200,446 (18.1) 0.08 24,368 (15.2) 24,579 (15.4) 0.00 903 (15.0)
4th quintile 25,957 (15.7) 1,186,139 (17.9) 0.06 25,084 (15.7) 25,702 (16.1) 0.01 886 (14.7)
5th quintile
38,515 (23.2)
1,480,748 (22.3)
0.02

37,360 (23.4)
37,607 (23.5)
0.00

1,160 (19.3)
Essential worker, lowest to highest
1st quintile 26,206 (15.8) 1,412,108 (21.3) 0.14 25,780 (16.1) 26,293 (16.5) 0.01 426 (7.1)
2nd quintile 34,294 (20.7) 1,473,288 (22.2) 0.04 33,431 (20.9) 33,151 (20.7) 0.00 863 (14.3)
3rd quintile 32,254 (19.4) 1,312,630 (19.8) 0.01 31,060 (19.4) 31,160 (19.5) 0.00 1,194 (19.8)
4th quintile 35,587 (21.5) 1,267,957 (19.1) 0.06 33,991 (21.3) 33,716 (21.1) 0.00 1,596 (26.5)
5th quintile
37,307 (22.5)
1,162,361 (17.5)
0.13

35,376 (22.1)
35,221 (22.0)
0.00

1,931 (32.1)
Resource utilization band
Nonusers 12,610 (7.6) 798,484 (12.0) 0.15 12,292 (7.7) 12,292 (7.7) 0.00 318 (5.3)
Healthy users 8,344 (5.0) 412,761 (6.2) 0.05 8,138 (5.1) 8,138 (5.1) 0.00 206 (3.4)
Low RU 29,017 (17.5) 1,327,448 (20.0) 0.06 28,132 (17.6) 28,132 (17.6) 0.00 885 (14.7)
Moderate RU 81,334 (49.0) 2,969,570 (44.7) 0.09 78,153 (48.9) 78,153 (48.9) 0.00 3,181 (52.8)
High RU 25,032 (15.1) 823,659 (12.4) 0.08 24,031 (15.0) 24,031 (15.0) 0.00 1,001 (16.6)
Very high RU 9,501 (5.7) 309,152 (4.7) 0.05 9,071 (5.7) 9,071 (5.7) 0.00 430 (7.1)

*Values are no. (%) except as indicated. ACG, adjusted clinical groups; FU, follow up; n, number of observations; RU, resource utilization; SMD, standardized difference in means. †Deaths that occurred during the follow up until March 1, 2022.

Main Article

Page created: February 04, 2025
Page updated: March 24, 2025
Page reviewed: March 24, 2025
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