Hospital utilization by older and younger patients in Canada: pre-pandemic findings.

Many countries are experiencing a post-pandemic surge in hospital utilization along with accelerating population aging. Maximal hospital efficiency is required, with utilization evidence essential for identifying appropriate hospital or broader health system reforms. We offer an investigation of the most recent pre-COVID year (2019-2020) of complete population-based hospital utilization data to describe and compare the use of hospitals by older (65+) and younger (0-64) people admitted for inpatient services in Canada.