• Deirdre A Hennessy, Andrea Soo, Daniel J Niven, Rachel J Jolley, Juan Posadas-Calleja, Henry T Stelfox, and Christopher J Doig.
• Health Analysis Division, Statistics Canada, 100 Tunney's Pasture Driveway, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0T6, Canada. deirdre.hennessy@canada.ca.
• Can J Anaesth. 2020 Apr 1; 67 (4): 408420408-420.

PurposeSepsis is a considerable health system burden. Population-based epidemiological surveillance of sepsis is limited to basic data available in administrative databases. We sought to determine if routinely collected Census data, linked to hospitalization data, can provide a broad socio-demographic profile of patients admitted to Canadian hospitals with sepsis.MethodsLinking the 2006 long-form Canadian Census (most recent available for linkage) to the Discharge Abstract Data from 2006/2007 to 2008/2009, we created a population-based cohort of approximately 3,433,900 Canadians. Patients admitted to hospital with sepsis were identified using the Canadian Institute for Health Information administrative data definition. Age-standardized hospital admission rates for sepsis were calculated. Multivariable modelling was used to examine the relationship between Census characteristics and hospitalization with sepsis.ResultsOf those individuals successfully linked to the 2006 long-form Canadian Census, 10,400 patients of 18 yr and older were admitted to hospital with sepsis between the fiscal years 2006/2007 and 2008/2009. These individuals represented a weighted count of approximately 49,000 Canadians from all provinces and territories, excluding Quebec. The age-standardized rate of sepsis hospitalization was 96 cases/100,000 population. Of these, 37/100,000 cases were classified as severe sepsis. The association of Census characteristics with sepsis hospitalization varied with age. In all age-specific models, male sex, never being married, visible minority status, having functional limitations, and not being in the labour force were associated with an increased odds of hospital admission.ConclusionsCensus data identified broad socio-demographic risk factors for admission to hospital with sepsis. Consideration should be given to incorporating Census data linked to administrative hospital data in population-based epidemiologic surveillance.

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