Health service utilization by Manitoba children.
OBJECTIVE
To compare physician and hospital utilization rates by children across subregions of Manitoba.


METHODS
1998/99 data for physician visits and hospitalizations for children aged 0 to 19 were extracted from the Population Health Research Data Repository. Rates of utilization were compared across 12 regions (RHAs) within Manitoba, and 12 community areas within Winnipeg. Rates were also compared across premature mortality rates (PMR) and area income levels.


RESULTS
Substantial regional variation was found for utilization rates. The hospitalization rate for children from the three northern RHAs (highest PMRs) (114/1000) was almost four times the Winnipeg rate (30/1000) and almost double the rate for the rural south RHAs (lowest PMRs) (59/1000). The variation among regions in physician visits ranged from under 2 visits in 2 of the northern RHAs to almost 4 visits in urban areas. However, the low visit rates in rural RHAs are offset somewhat by greater use of nurses. Hospitalizations and physician visits were also related to area income level.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings are discussed in terms of health care need.
Brownell
Marni
M
Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB. Marni_Brownell@cpe.umanitoba.ca
Kozyrkyj
Anita
A
Roos
Noralou
N
Friesen
David
D
Mayer
Teresa
T
Sullivan
Kip
K
D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008350:Manitoba / Q000453:epidemiology; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012040:Regional Health Planning; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population