Abstracts

Little is known about health resource utilization (HRU) in aboriginals with epilepsy. The aim of this study was to provide estimates of HRU in aboriginals with epilepsy compared to non-aboriginals., Three administrative databases (inpatient, emergency and physician claims) were employed to identify epilepsy cases. Aboriginal status and demographic characteristics were defined using the Alberta population health registry. Outpatient physician visits, hospitalizations and emergency room (ER) visits were extracted from these administrative databases. Logistic regression was used to determine whether aboriginal status was associated with higher HRU., We identified 56 aboriginals and 1374 non-aboriginals in 2001 with a mean age of 35 (range 3-64) and 38 (range 2-88) respectively. Of these patients, 65% of aboriginals vs 94% of non-aboriginals lived in urban areas and 38% of aboriginals were females vs 47% of non-aboriginals. Aboriginals were more likely than non-aboriginals to visit the ER (OR 2.3 CI 1.1-5.0) or be hospitalized (OR 2.8 CI 1.5-5.1) but less likely to see a neurologist (OR 0.3 CI 0.2-0.6)., This study demonstrated disparities in HRU between aboriginals and non-aboriginals, suggesting possible internal or external barriers to specialized care in aboriginals. Further studies are required to explore reasons for such a pattern of HRU.,