TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Poor more likely to end up in hospital: study finds

OTTAWA – The poorer you are, the sicker you're likely to be, suggests a new study comparing illness and hospitalization rates for low-income and well-off Canadians living in major cities.

The research by the Canadian Institute for Health Information found lower-income people are more likely to be hospitalized for a wide range of health problems, both physical and psychological.

The report also found that some of the diseases that put the poor in hospital could just as easily be treated in the community.

For example, people from lower-income groups were 2.4 times more likely to be hospitalized for diabetes, and children from such groups had 56 per cent higher hospitalization rates for asthma.

Hospital admission rates for mental illness in lower socio-economic groups were 2.3 times those in higher groups, while admissions for substance abuse were 3.4 times higher among the poor.

"These differences are real, they're significant, and they're present throughout Canada's large cities," said Dr. David McKeown, medical officer of health for Toronto.

"A country that places value on equity and access to health should find these differences unacceptable."

McKeown was joined by colleagues from other major cities Monday in calling on government to recognize the problem and search for solutions.

That will mean adopting broad-based policies not just to improve medical care but to combat poverty and lessen social and economic inequality, they said.

"What the research shows is that if you have a better income and a better education you will end up being healthier than otherwise," said Dr. Richard Lessard, director of public health for Montreal.

He maintained that programs like low-cost daycare and subsidized social housing can have a ripple effect by helping to lift people into the labour force and out of poverty – and thereby improve their health as well.

The study examined hospitalization rates and other statistical indicators for various illnesses in the country's 15 largest urban areas, representing about two-thirds of the Canadian population.

Differences in general health were measured according to a complex socio-economic index that included not just income but related factors such as education, employment and marital status.

The conclusions were stark.

"Canadians are among the world's healthiest populations, but not all Canadians are equally healthy," said the report. "Gaps or differences in health are particularly observable in urban Canada."