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Publication Date: 2013
Objectives. We comprehensively assessed health care utilization in a population-based sample of homeless adults and matched controls under a universal health insurance system.
Methods. We assessed health care utilization by 1165 homeless single men and women and adults in families and their age- and gender-matched low-income controls in Toronto, Ontario, from 2005 to 2009, using repeated-measures general linear models to calculate risk ratios and...
Publication Date: 2013
Objectives. We identified factors associated with inpatient hospitalizations among a population-based cohort of homeless adults in Toronto, Ontario.
Methods. We recruited participants from shelters and meal programs. We then linked them to administrative databases to capture hospital admissions during the study (2005–2009). We used logistic regression to identify predictors of medical or surgical and psychiatric hospitalizations.
Results. Among...
Publication Date: 2008
An outbreak among homeless shelter users of a communicable disease with a short generation time would pose serious public health challenges. Data from Toronto were used to examine the number of shelter residents potentially exposed in the event of such an outbreak. A shelter user had contact with a mean of 97 other residents (range, 1–292) in one day and a mean of 120 (range, 2–624) in eight days. After a single week, contact tracing becomes di...
Publication Date: 2010
Objectives. We examined the extent of unmet needs and barriers to accessing health care among homeless people within a universal health insurance system.
Methods. We randomly selected a representative sample of 1169 homeless individuals at shelters and meal programs in Toronto, Ontario. We determined the prevalence of self-reported unmet needs for health care in the past 12 months and used regression analyses to identify factors associated with u...
Publication Date: 2010
Background Drug use is believed to be an important factor contributing to the poor health and increased mortality risk that has been widely observed among homeless individuals. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of drug use among a representative sample of homeless individuals and to examine the association between drug problems and physical and mental health status. Methods Recruitment of 603 sin...
Publisher: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
Publication Date: 2009
The researchers investigated the relationship between traumatic brain injury and current health conditions in a representative sample of homeless people. They asked 601 men and 303 women at homeless shelters and meal programs in 2004–2005 in Toronto about any head injury that left the person dazed, confused, disoriented or unconscious. They found that lifetime prevalence among homeless participants was 53% for any traumatic brain injury and 12% f...