| Title: | Factors influencing COVID-19 incidence in the counties of the Republic of Ireland: a population based observational study |
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| Author(s): | D O'Malley EF McKone |
| Institution: | St Vincents University Hospital |
| Poster: | Click to view poster |
| Category: | COVID-19 |
| Abstract: | The incidence of COVID-19 in counties across Ireland is highly variable. We carried out an observational study looking at the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) and healthcare variables on COVID-19 incidence across counties in the Republic of Ireland. Outcome was total case rates per county from data.gov.ie over a 128 day time period from February 27th 2020.1 County-level measures of Ethnicity and SES were obtained from the 2016 census. Data on numbers of carers, doctors per capita and nursing home beds were obtained from Medical Council and HIQA registries.2 3 Linear regression was used to assess for association. Multivariate analysis identified a statistically significant association between COVID-19 case rates and mean household income (after adjusting for county mean house price), percentage of Black/Asian ethnicity and number of GPs per 1000. This study reveals that socioeconomic status and measures of healthcare delivery are associated with a county’s COVID-19 incidence. |
