During the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual physician visits rapidly increased among community-dwelling older persons living with dementia (PLWD) in Ontario. Rural residents often have less access to medical care compared to their urban counterparts, and it is unclear whether access to virtual care was equitable between PLWD in urban versus rural locations.

Using population-based health administrative data and a repeated cross-sectional study design, we identified and described community-dwelling PLWD between March 2020 and August 2022 in Ontario, Canada. Poisson regression was used to calculate rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals comparing rates of virtual visits between rural and urban PLWD by key physician specialties: family physicians, neurologists and psychiatrists/geriatricians.

Of 122,751 PLWD in our cohort, 9.2% (n = 11,304) resided in rural areas. Rural PLWD were slightly younger compared to their urban counterparts (mean age = 81 vs. 82 years; standardized difference = 0.16). There were no differences across areas by sex or income quintile. In adjusted models, rates of virtual visits were significantly lower for rural compared to urban PLWD across all specialties: family physicians (RR = 0.71 [0.69–0.73]), neurologists (RR = 0.79 [0.75–0.83]) and psychiatrists/geriatricians (RR = 0.72 [0.68–0.76]).

PLWD in rural areas had significantly lower rates of virtual family physician, neurologist and psychiatrist/geriatrician visits compared to urban dwellers during the study period. This finding raises important issues regarding access to primary and specialist healthcare services for rural PLWD. Future work should explore barriers to care to improve health care access among PLWD in rural communities.

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) can have a high prevalence of pain, which can be managed with prescription opioids. However, the prevalence of substance use disorder is also high in this population, raising concern about opioid-related adverse events.

To assess the risk of opioid-related adverse events following opioid initiation among adults with versus without IDD.

We conducted a population-based, propensity score matched cohort study on all adults starting prescription opioid therapy in Ontario, Canada, between January 2013 and December 2018. The outcomes of interest were opioid toxicity, new opioid use disorder (OUD) diagnosis and dose escalation (≥90 mg morphine or equivalent) in the year after opioid initiation. We used Cox proportional hazards models to assess the association between IDD diagnosis and each outcome.

The hazards of opioid toxicity and OUD were significantly higher in those with IDD compared with those without IDD in unmatched analyses (opioid toxicity hazard ratio 3.19, 95% CI 2.81–5.18; OUD hazard ratio 2.36, 95% CI 2.10–2.65), whereas the hazard of dose escalation was significantly lower (hazard ratio 0.76, 95% CI 0.66–0.88). Findings were no longer significant in propensity score matched models for opioid toxicity and dose escalation, whereas the hazard of OUD diagnosis was attenuated substantially in those with IDD (hazard ratio 0.79, 95% CI 0.68–0.91).

IDD diagnosis is not a driver of opioid-related harm. The increased risk we observed is likely driven by various risk factors often present in this population.

Social determinants of health have the potential to influence mental health and addictions-related emergency department (ED) visits and the likelihood of admission to hospital. We aimed to determine how social determinants of health, individually and in combination, relate to the likelihood of hospital admission at the time of postpartum psychiatric ED visits.

Among 10 702 postpartum individuals (female based on health card) presenting to the ED for a psychiatric reason in Ontario, Canada (2008–2017), we evaluated the relation between six social determinants of health (age, neighbourhood quintile [Q, Q1 = lowest, Q5 = highest], rurality, immigrant category, Chinese or South Asian ethnicity and neighbourhood ethnic diversity) and the likelihood of hospital admission from the ED. Poisson regression models generated relative risks (RR, 95% CI) of admission for each social determinant, crude and adjusted for clinical severity (diagnosis and acuity) and other potential confounders. Generalised estimating equations were used to explore additive interaction to understand whether the likelihood of admission depended on intersections of social determinants of health.

In total, 16.0% (n = 1715) were admitted to hospital from the ED. Being young (age 19 or less v. 40 or more: RR 0.60, 95% CI 0.45–0.82), rural-dwelling (v. urban-dwelling: RR 0.75, 95% CI 0.62–0.91) and low-income (Q1 v. Q5: RR 0.81, 95% CI 0.66–0.98) were each associated with a lower likelihood of admission. Being an immigrant (non-refugee immigrant v. Canadian-born/long-term resident: RR 1.29, 95% CI 1.06–1.56), of Chinese ethnicity (v. non-Chinese/South Asian ethnicity: RR 1.88, 95% CI 1.42–2.49); and living in the most v. least ethnically diverse neighbourhoods (RR 1.24, 95% CI 1.01–1.53) were associated with a higher likelihood of admission. Only Chinese ethnicity remained significant in the fully-adjusted model (aRR 1.49, 95% CI 1.24–1.80). Additive interactions were non-significant.

For the most part, whether a postpartum ED visit resulted in admission from the ED depended primarily on the clinical severity of presentation, not on individual or intersecting social determinants of health. Being of Chinese ethnicity did increase the likelihood of admission independent of clinical severity and other measured factors; the reasons for this warrant further exploration.

Antibiotic use in nursing homes is often inappropriate, in terms of overuse and misuse, and it can be linked to adverse events and antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) can optimize antibiotic use by minimizing unnecessary prescriptions, treatment cost, and the overall spread of antimicrobial resistance. Nursing home providers and residents are candidates for ASP implementation, yet guidelines for implementation are limited.

To support nursing home providers with the selection and adoption of ASP interventions.

A multiphase modified Delphi method to assess 15 ASP interventions across criteria addressing scientific merit, feasibility, impact, accountability, and importance. This study included surveys supplemented with a 1-day consensus meeting.

A 16-member multidisciplinary panel of experts and resident representatives.

From highest to lowest, 6 interventions were prioritized by the panel: (1) guidelines for empiric prescribing, (2) audit and feedback, (3) communication tools, (4) short-course antibiotic therapy, (5) scheduled antibiotic reassessment, and (6) clinical decision support systems. Several interventions were not endorsed: antibiograms, educational interventions, formulary review, and automatic substitution. A lack of nursing home resources was noted, which could impede multifaceted interventions.

Nursing home providers should consider 6 key interventions for ASPs. Such interventions may be feasible for nursing home settings and impactful for improving antibiotic use; however, scientific merit supporting each is variable. A multifaceted approach may be necessary for long-term improvement but difficult to implement.

Women are more likely to be admitted to nursing home after stroke than men. Differences in patient characteristics and outcomes by sex after institutionalization are less understood. We examined sex differences in the characteristics and care needs of patients admitted to nursing home following stroke and their subsequent survival.

We identified patients with stroke newly admitted to nursing home between April 2011 and March 2016 in Ontario, Canada, with follow-up until March 2018 using linked administrative data. We calculated prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the primary outcomes of dependence for activities of daily living, cognitive impairment, frailty, health instability, and symptoms of depression or pain, comparing women to men. The secondary outcome was all-cause mortality.

Among 4831 patients, 60.9% were women. Compared to men, women were older (median age [interquartile range, IQR]: 84 [78, 89] vs. 80 [71, 86]), more likely to be frail (prevalence ratio 1.14, 95% CI [1.08, 1.19]), have unstable health (1.45 [1.28, 1.66]), and experience symptoms of depression (1.25 [1.11, 1.40]) or pain (1.21 [1.13, 1.30]), and less likely to have aggressive behaviors (0.87 [0.80, 0.94]). Overall median survival was 2.9 years. In a propensity-score-matched cohort, women had lower mortality than men (hazard ratio 0.85, 95% CI [0.77, 0.94]), but in the age-stratified survival analysis, the survival advantage in women was limited to those aged 75 years and older.

Despite lower subsequent mortality, women admitted to nursing home after stroke required more care than men. Pain and depression are two treatable symptoms that disproportionately affect women.