Health Disparities in Chickenpox or Shingles in Alberta?

Objective: Exploring for evidence of socio-economic health disparities in chickenpox and shingles in Alberta, Canada.

Methods: Chickenpox and shingles cases were identified from administrative data from Alberta's universal health care insurance system for 1994-2002. Incident cases were those with the earliest dated utilization of a health service (chickenpox: ICD9-CM 052/ICD10-CA B01; shingles: ICD9-CM 053/ ICD10-CA B02). Crude and age-specific rates were estimated for each year by an indicator of socio-demographic status based upon the nature of the payer and eligibility for health care premium subsidy (SES-proxy) for the provincial health care insurance system.

Results: Among young children there is a gradient of disparity in chickenpox rates prior to the year in which publicly funded vaccination programs were implemented. After this point, disparities decline but less so for First Nations children than for others. There was no evidence of disparity by SES-proxy for shingles.

Conclusion: Publicly funded vaccination programs may effectively contribute to reduction in disease disparities for vaccine-preventable diseases. Further study is required to ascertain why disparities continue for First Nations children.