Age and Sex-Related Comparison of Telemedicine Service Utilization During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Analysis

Abstract

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased utilization of telemedicine services. Methods A retrospective analysis of all non-hospital-based medical healthcare services in Ontario from November 2019 to June 2021 was collected from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) billing database. Only fee-for-service billings were included in the present analysis. Coincident COVID-19 cases were obtained from Public Health Ontario. Comparisons were made based on age bracket, sex, telemedicine and in-person care. Results Billings for telemedicine services in Ontario increased from $1.7 million in November 2019 to $64 million in April 2020 and the proportions reached a mean peak of 72% in April 2020 and declined to 46% in June 2021. A positive correlation was found between the use of telemedicine and COVID-19 cases (p = 0.05). The age group with the highest proportion of telemedicine use was the 10–20-year-olds, followed by the 20–50-year-olds (61 ± 9.0%, 55 ± 7.3%, p = 0.01). Both age groups remained above 50% telemedicine services at the end of the study period. There is a persistent sex preference for females to adopt telemedicine (females 54.2 ± 8.0%, males 47.9 ± 7.7%, ANCOVA p = 0.05) Conclusions The use of telemedicine services remains at a high level across groups, particularly the 10–50-year-olds. There are clear age and sex preferences for using telemedicine. Studying these differences may provide insights into how the delivery of non-hospital-based medicine has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.