Increasing concentration of COVID-19 by socioeconomic determinants and geography in Toronto, Canada: an observational study.

Ann Epidemiol

St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; ICES, Toronto, Canada; Public Health Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Department of Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Division of Infectious Diseases, Sunnybrook Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, School of Population and Global Health, McGill University, Montréal, Canada; Departments of Community Health Sciences and Family Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada; Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada; Centre for Health Informatics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada; Capacity Planning and Analytics Division, Ontario Ministry of Health, Toronto, Canada; Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, United States; University Health Network, Toronto, Canada.

Published: January 2022

Background: Inequities in the burden of COVID-19 were observed early in Canada and around the world, suggesting economically marginalized communities faced disproportionate risks. However, there has been limited systematic assessment of how heterogeneity in risks has evolved in large urban centers over time.

Purpose: To address this gap, we quantified the magnitude of risk heterogeneity in Toronto, Ontario from January to November 2020 using a retrospective, population-based observational study using surveillance data.

Methods: We generated epidemic curves by social determinants of health (SDOH) and crude Lorenz curves by neighbourhoods to visualize inequities in the distribution of COVID-19 and estimated Gini coefficients. We examined the correlation between SDOH using Pearson-correlation coefficients.

Results: Gini coefficient of cumulative cases by population size was 0.41 (95% confidence interval [CI]:0.36-0.47) and estimated for: household income (0.20, 95%CI: 0.14-0.28); visible minority (0.21, 95%CI:0.16-0.28); recent immigration (0.12, 95%CI:0.09-0.16); suitable housing (0.21, 95%CI:0.14-0.30); multigenerational households (0.19, 95%CI:0.15-0.23); and essential workers (0.28, 95%CI:0.23-0.34).

Conclusions: There was rapid epidemiologic transition from higher- to lower-income neighborhoods with Lorenz curve transitioning from below to above the line of equality across SDOH. Moving forward necessitates integrating programs and policies addressing socioeconomic inequities and structural racism into COVID-19 prevention and vaccination programs.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8730782PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2021.07.007DOI Listing

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