Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada.
Centre for Gender &, Sexual Health Equity, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
BMC Prim Care. 2024 Sep 6;25(1):332. doi: 10.1186/s12875-024-02530-1.
BACKGROUND: The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic drove a rapid and widespread shift to virtual care, followed by a gradual return to in-person visits. Virtual visits may offer more convenient access to care for some, but others may experience challenges accessing care virtually, and some medical needs must be met in-person. Experiences of the shift to virtual care and benefits of in-person care may vary by immigration experience (immigration status and duration), official language level, and age. We examined use of virtual care and return to in-person visits in the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC), comparing patterns by age and across immigration groups, including length of time in Canada and language level (official languages English and French) at time of arrival. METHODS: We used linked administrative health and immigration data to examine total primary care visits (virtual or in-person) and return to in-person visits during the COVID-19 pandemic (2019/20-2021/2) in BC. We examined the proportion of people with any primary care visits and with any in-person visits within each year as measures of access to primary care. We estimated the odds of any primary care visits and any in-person visits by immigration group and official language level assessed prior to arrival: non-immigrants, long-term immigrants, recent immigrants (< 5 years) with high assessed official language level and recent immigrants (< 5 years) with low assessed official language level (assessed prior to arrival), stratified by age. RESULTS: In general, changes in access to primary care (odds of any visits and odds of any in-person visits) were similar across immigration groups over the study period. However, we observed substantial disparities in access to primary care by immigration group among people aged 60 + , particularly in recent immigrants with low official language level (0.42, 0.40-0.45). These disparities grew wider over the course of the pandemic. CONCLUSION: Though among younger adults changes in access to primary care between 2019-2021 were similar across immigration groups, we observed significant and growing inequities among older adults, with particularly limited access among adults who immigrated recently and with low assessed official language level. Targeted interventions to ensure acceptable, accessible care for older immigrants are needed.
背景:新冠疫情大流行期间,医疗服务迅速大范围转向虚拟医疗,之后逐渐恢复线下就诊。对于某些人来说,虚拟就诊可能提供了更便捷的医疗服务,但也有人在虚拟就诊方面遇到挑战,而有些医疗需求必须线下就诊才能满足。对虚拟医疗服务的体验以及线下就诊的好处可能因移民经历(移民身份和时长)、官方语言水平和年龄而有所不同。我们考察了加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省(BC)在新冠疫情期间(2019/20-2021/2)虚拟医疗服务的使用情况和线下就诊的恢复情况,比较了不同年龄组和移民群体(包括在加拿大的时长和抵达时的语言水平(官方语言为英语和法语))的就诊模式。
方法:我们使用链接的医疗保健和移民数据,调查了 BC 省在新冠疫情期间(2019/20-2021/2)的总初级保健就诊(虚拟或线下)和线下就诊恢复情况。我们通过评估移民群体和入境前评估的官方语言水平,分别考察了每年的初级保健就诊率(任何就诊率和任何线下就诊率),作为初级保健服务可及性的衡量标准。我们分别评估了非移民、长期移民、最近(<5 年)移民且入境前官方语言水平高、最近(<5 年)移民且入境前官方语言水平低的人群的任何初级保健就诊和任何线下就诊的几率,并按年龄分层。
结果:总的来说,在整个研究期间,不同移民群体的初级保健服务可及性变化(任何就诊率和任何线下就诊率的几率)大致相似。然而,我们发现,60 岁以上人群的初级保健服务可及性在移民群体之间存在很大差异,尤其是那些入境前官方语言水平较低的最近移民(0.42、0.40-0.45)。随着疫情的发展,这些差异越来越大。
结论:虽然在年轻成年人中,2019-2021 年期间不同移民群体的初级保健服务可及性变化相似,但我们观察到老年人之间存在显著且不断扩大的不平等现象,最近移民且入境前官方语言水平较低的成年人尤其难以获得医疗服务。需要采取有针对性的干预措施,确保为老年移民提供可接受和可及的医疗服务。
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