Increasing concentration of COVID-19 by socioeconomic determinants and geography in Toronto, Canada: an observational study

Background

Inequities in the burden of COVID-19 observed across Canada suggest heterogeneity within community transmission.

Objectives

To quantify the magnitude of heterogeneity in the wider community (outside of long-term care homes) in Toronto, Canada and assess how the magnitude in concentration evolved over time (January 21 to November 21, 2020).

Design

Retrospective, population-based observational study using surveillance data from Ontario’s Case and Contact Management system.

Setting

Toronto, Canada.

Participants

Laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 (N=33,992).

Measurements

We generated epidemic curves by SDOH and crude Lorenz curves by neighbourhoods to visualize inequities in the distribution of COVID-19 cases by social determinants of health (SDOH) and estimated the crude Gini coefficient. We examined the correlation between SDOH using Pearson correlation coefficients.

Results

The Gini coefficient of cumulative cases by population size was 0.41 (95% CI: 0.36-0.47) and were estimated for: household income (0.20, 95%CI: 0.14-0.28); visible minority (0.21, 95%CI: 0.16-0.28); recent immigration (0.12, 95%CI: 0.09-0.16); suitable housing (0.21, 95%CI: 0.14-0.30); multi-generational households (0.19, 95%CI: 0.15-0.23); and essential workers (0.28, 95% CI: 0.23-0.34). Most SDOH were highly correlated.

Locally acquired cases were concentrated in higher income neighbourhoods in the early phase of the epidemic, and then concentrated in lower income neighbourhoods. Mirroring the trajectory of epidemic curves by income, the Lorenz curve shifted over time from below to above the line of equality with a similar pattern across SDOH.

Limitations

Study relied on area-based measures of the SDOH and individual case counts of COVID-19. We cannot infer concentration of cases by specific occupational exposures given limitation to broad occupational categories.

Conclusion

COVID-19 is increasingly concentrated by SDOH given socioeconomic inequities and structural racism.

Primary Funding Source

Canadian Institutes of Health Research.