Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 May 29;22(1):1067.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13388-2.

Socioeconomic and immigration status and COVID-19 testing in Toronto, Ontario: retrospective cross-sectional study

Braden O'Neill  1   2   3 , Sumeet Kalia  4 , Susan Hum  5   6 , Peter Gill  7   8   9 , Michelle Greiver  4   10 , Abirami Kirubarajan  11 , David Eisen  4   10 , Jacob Ferguson  11 , Sheila Dunn  5   6
Affiliations

Socioeconomic and immigration status and COVID-19 testing in Toronto, Ontario: retrospective cross-sectional study

Braden O'Neill et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Preliminary evidence suggests that individuals living in lower income neighbourhoods are at higher risk of COVID-19 infection. The relationship between sociodemographic characteristics and COVID-19 risk warrants further study.

Methods: We explored the association between COVID-19 test positivity and patients' socio-demographic variables, using neighborhood sociodemographic data collected retrospectively from two COVID-19 Assessment Centres in Toronto, ON.

Results: Eighty-three thousand four hundred forty three COVID-19 tests completed between April 5-September 30, 2020, were analyzed. Individuals living in neighbourhoods with the lowest income or highest concentration of immigrants were 3.4 (95% CI: 2.7 to 4.9) and 2.5 (95% CI: 1.8 to 3.7) times more likely to test positive for COVID-19 than those in highest income or lowest immigrant neighbourhoods, respectively. Testing was higher among individuals from higher income neighbourhoods, at lowest COVID-19 risk, compared with those from low-income neighbourhoods.

Conclusions: Targeted efforts are needed to improve testing availability in high-risk regions. These same strategies may also ensure equitable COVID-19 vaccine delivery.

Keywords: COVID-19; Diagnostic tests and procedures; Immigration; Primary health care; Social determinants of health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Braden O’Neill is a member of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. All other authors report no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Odds ratios for positive COVID-19 swab test by income quintile and immigration tercile
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Li Q. An Outbreak of NCIP (2019-nCoV) Infection in China — Wuhan, Hubei Province, 2019–2020. China CDC Wkly. 2020;2(5):79–80. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tan WJ, Zhao X, Ma XJ. A novel coronavirus genome identified in a cluster of pneumonia cases-Wuhan, China 2019-2020. China CDC Wkly. 2020;2:61–62. doi: 10.46234/ccdcw2020.017. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Worldometer. COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic. 2022. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/.
    1. Matukas LM, Dhalla IA, Laupacis A. Aggressively find, test, trace and isolate to beat COVID-19. Can Med Assoc J. 2020;192(40):E1164 LP–E11E1165. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.202120. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Public Health Ontario. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)-PCR. Public Health Ontario. 2020. Available from: https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/laboratory-services/test-informati...

Publication types

Substances