Summary

• Emergency room visits and hospitalizations from all causes continue to rise among children aged 2–14 (+15% in visits and +7% in hospitalizations) and remain stable in other age groups.

• Among seasonal conditions, there has been an increase in emergency department visits for asthma among children under 15, with a more pronounced rise among those aged 2–14 (+27%) than among those under 2 (+11%) and a higher proportion of cases than in the previous two years. The proportion of hospitalizations following visits for asthma increased significantly, by 29% among children under 2 and by 45% among those aged 2–14.

• There was also an increase in emergency department visits among children under 15 for ENT conditions (+9%) and bronchitis (+20%). The number of visits for pneumonia continued to rise among children aged 2–14 (+17%).

• Other seasonal conditions are all stable or declining across all age groups. However, there has been an increase in hospitalizations following visits for gastroenteritis among adults under 75 (+18%).

• Also worth noting is that among children aged 2–14, there has been a continued increase in visits for trauma (+19%) and nonspecific abdominal pain (+9%), as well as an increase in visits for allergies (+14%). There has been an increase in visits related to alcohol (+11%) among adults under 75.