| Variable‡ | No. (%)§ | Priority 4 n = 124 545 (9.0) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall n = 174 633 (12.6) | Priority 3 n = 50 088 (3.6) | ||
| Dependency quintile | |||
| 1 | 29 015 (11.0) | 9347 (18.9) | 19 668 (9.2) |
| 2 | 30 245 (12.1) | 8968 (19.6) | 21 277 (10.4) |
| 3 | 31 884 (12.7) | 8915 (19.5) | 22 969 (11.2) |
| 4 | 34 829 (13.0) | 9888 (20.0) | 24 941 (11.4) |
| 5 | 48 660 (13.8) | 12 970 (20.3) | 35 690 (12.3) |
| Deprivation quintile | |||
| 1 | 37 833 (12.8) | 10 852 (21.6) | 26 981 (11.0) |
| 2 | 36 097 (12.5) | 10 389 (20.0) | 25 708 (10.8) |
| 3 | 35 255 (12.8) | 10 302 (19.7) | 24 953 (11.2) |
| 4 | 34 378 (12.8) | 9690 (18.8) | 24 688 (11.3) |
| 5 | 31 070 (12.1) | 8855 (18.3) | 22 215 (10.6) |
| Instability quintile | |||
| 1 | 30 565 (11.7) | 9613 (19.7) | 20 952 (9.9) |
| 2 | 34 392 (12.6) | 10 059 (19.8) | 24 333 (10.9) |
| 3 | 35 351 (12.7) | 9897 (19.3) | 25 454 (11.3) |
| 4 | 35 281 (13.1) | 9737 (19.4) | 25 544 (11.6) |
| 5 | 39 044 (12.8) | 10 782 (20.2) | 28 262 (11.3) |
| Proportion of residents who self-identify as being part of a visible minority group | |||
| 1 | 41 034 (14.8) | 11 091 (20.3) | 29 943 (13.4) |
| 2 | 39 468 (13.6) | 10 589 (19.7) | 28 879 (12.2) |
| 3 | 35 779 (13.1) | 9947 (21.7) | 25 832 (11.4) |
| 4 | 31 614 (11.9) | 9135 (20.6) | 22 479 (10.1) |
| 5 | 26 738 (9.6) | 9326 (16.7) | 17 412 (7.8) |
| Immigrated last 5 years | |||
| 1 | 112 226 (13.4) | 30 755 (20.1) | 81 471 (11.9) |
| 2 | 31 301 (11.9) | 9294 (20.1) | 22 007 (10.2) |
| 3 | 31 106 (10.8) | 10 039 (18.2) | 21 067 (9.1) |
↵* Individual patients were assigned to marginalization quintiles based on community, not individual characteristics.
↵† The Wait Time Information System classifies procedure priority level. Level 1 is the most urgent, requiring immediate transfer to the operating room. This is followed by levels 2, 3 and 4, requiring urgent, semi-urgent and elective surgical intervention. The target wait time for level 3 is 84 days or fewer, and for level 4, 182 days or fewer.
↵‡ To categorize levels of marginalization, all dissemination areas in Ontario were ranked within each domain (or sub-domain) and assigned to a quintile, with quintile 1 representing the dissemination areas with the lowest marginalization and quintile 5 the highest. For recent immigration, more than 50% of dissemination areas had 0 recent immigrants, which led to the creation of only 3 categories (i.e., the lower 3 quintiles combined, and the fourth and fifth quintiles).
↵§ Percentage refers to the percent of procedures exceeding wait time divided by the total number of procedures by patient characteristic and priority level.