• K M Sauro, C M O'Rielly, J Kersen, A Soo, S M Bagshaw, and H T Stelfox.
• Departments of Community Health Sciences, Surgery and Oncology, O'Brien Institute for Public Health and Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Dr. NW, Room 3D41, Calgary, AB, T2N 4Z6, Canada. kmsauro@ucalgary.ca.
• Crit Care. 2023 Dec 6; 27 (1): 477477.

PurposeTo understand the epidemiology and healthcare use of critically ill patients experiencing homelessness compared to critically ill patients with stable housing.MethodsThis retrospective population-based cohort study included adults admitted to any ICU in Alberta, Canada, for a 3-year period. Administrative and clinical data from the hospital, ICU and emergency department were used to examine healthcare resource use (processes of care, ICU and hospital length of stay, hospital readmission and emergency room visits). Regression was used to quantify differences in healthcare use by housing status.Results2.3% (n = 1086) of patients admitted to the ICU were experiencing homelessness; these patients were younger, more commonly admitted for medical reasons and had fewer comorbidities compared to those with stable housing. Processes of care in the ICU were mostly similar, but healthcare use after ICU was different; patients experiencing homelessness who survived their index hospitalization were more than twice as likely to have a visit to the emergency department (OR = 2.3 times, 95% CI 2.0-2.6, < 0.001) or be readmitted to hospital (OR = 2.1, 95% CI 1.8-2.4, p < 0.001) within 30 days, and stayed 10.1 days longer in hospital (95% CI 8.6-11.6, p < 0.001), compared with those who have stable housing.ConclusionsPatients experiencing homelessness have different characteristics at ICU admission and have similar processes of care in ICU, but their subsequent use of healthcare resources was higher than patients with stable housing. These findings can inform strategies to prepare patients experiencing homelessness for discharge from the ICU to reduce healthcare resource use after critical illness.© 2023. The Author(s).

15 keywords...

hide…