The effects of deprivation, age, and regional differences in COVID-19 mortality from 2020 to 2022: a retrospective analysis of public provincial data.

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) quickly spread around the world after its initial identification in Wuhan, China in 2019 and became a global public health crisis. COVID-19 related hospitalizations and deaths as important disease outcomes have been investigated by many studies while less attention has been given to the relationship between these two outcomes at a public health unit level. In this study, we aim to establish the relationship of counts of deaths and hospitalizations caused by COVID-19 over time across 34 public health units in Ontario, Canada, taking demographic, geographic, socio-economic, and vaccination variables into account.

Transitions in health care settings for frequent and infrequent users of emergency departments: a population-based retrospective cohort study.

Background: Efforts to reduce emergency department (ED) volumes often target frequent users. We examined transitions in care across ED, hospital, and community settings, and in-hospital death, for high system users (HSUs) compared to controls.

Methods: Population-based databases provided ED visits and hospitalizations in Alberta and Ontario, Canada.

A randomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of an internet-based cognitive-behavioral program on anxiety symptoms in a community-based sample of adolescents.

Adolescents' use of online resources to self-manage anxiety is growing. The objective of the current trial was to assess the effectiveness of an online, primarily self-led cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program in reducing anxiety symptoms compared to an active comparator, access to anxiety resources on a static website. A total of 563 adolescents (13-19 years) with self-identified anxiety concerns were enrolled.

Age-varying effects of repeated emergency department presentations for children in Canada.

Objectives: Repeated presentations to emergency departments (EDs) may indicate a lack of access to other health care resources. Age is an important predictor of frequent ED use; however, age-varying effects are not generally investigated. This study examines the age-specific effects of predictors on ED presentation frequency for children in Alberta and Ontario, Canada.