ArticleBMC health services research2019
Wait lists and adult general surgery: is there a socioeconomic dimension in Canada?
Article in BMC health services research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Patient and provider perspective with the use of a central intake system (CIS) for surgical waitlist management: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic literature review on biopsychosocial factors in the surgical waiting list.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2026Review
- Assessment of Psychological Distress in Surgical Patients: A Comparison Between Day Care and Long-Term Hospitalization in an Oncology Hospital.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Access to healthcare: waiting time until the surgical procedure.Annals of medicine · 2025Article
- Effect of socioeconomic status on wait times for patients undergoing treatment for laryngeal conditions in a universal healthcare system.Laryngoscope investigative otolaryngology · 2022Article
- Surgical wait times and socioeconomic status in a public healthcare system: a retrospective analysis.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- The burden of waiting: wait times for pediatric surgical procedures in Quebec and compliance with national benchmarks.Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie · 2021Article
- A Longitudinal Analysis of Wait Times for Bariatric Surgery in a Publicly Funded, Regionalized Bariatric Care System.Obesity surgery · 2020Article
- Surgeon perspectives on surgical wait times and the single-entry model: challenges and opportunities for equitable access in a Canadian health care system.Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgieArticle
- Article
- Referral patterns and wait times in complex peripheral nerve injuries: a review of a multidisciplinary clinic in Canada.Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgieArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLittle is known about whether patients' socioeconomic status influences their access to elective general surgery in Canada. The purpose of this study was to assess the association between socioeconomic status and wait times for elective general surgery.
methodsAnalysis of prospectively recruited participants' data. The setting was six hospitals in the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, a geographically defined region that includes Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Participants had elective general surgery between October 2013 and April 2017, community dwelling, aged 19 years or older and could complete survey forms. The outcome measure was wait time, defined as the number of weeks between being registered for elective general surgery and surgery date.
resultsOne thousand three hundred twenty elective general surgery participants were included in the study. The response rate among eligible patients was 53%. Regression analyses found no statistically significant association between patients' wait time with SES, adjusting for health status, cancer status, surgical priority level, comorbidity burden and demographic characteristics. Participants with proven or suspected cancer status had shorter waits relative to participants waiting for surgery for benign conditions. Participants with at least one comorbidity tended to experience shorter waits of approximately 5 weeks (p < 0.01). Pre-operative pain or depression/anxiety were not associated with shorter wait times.
conclusionsAlthough this study found no relationship between SES and surgical wait time for elective general surgeries in the study hospitals, patients in lower SES categories reported worse health when assigned to the surgical queue.
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Registered trials
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