TY - JOUR T1 - Primary care service use during adolescence and young adulthood JF - Canadian Family Physician JO - Can Fam Physician SP - e151 LP - e160 DO - 10.46747/cfp.6805e151 VL - 68 IS - 5 AU - Kyleigh Schraeder AU - Alberto Nettel-Aguirre AU - Andrew S. Mackie AU - Kerry McBrien AU - Olesya Barrett AU - Gina Dimitropoulos AU - Susan Samuel Y1 - 2022/05/01 UR - http://www.cfp.ca/content/68/5/e151.abstract N2 - Objective To understand use of family physician services and emergency department visits by adolescents and young adults with chronic health conditions.Design Longitudinal retrospective observational cohort study using administrative health data.Setting Chronic care clinics at a tertiary care pediatric hospital in Calgary, Alta.Participants In total, 1326 adolescents who were between 12 and 15 years old in 2008, who were observed until 2016, and who received medical services for chronic conditions were enrolled in the study. Eligible participants had at least 4 visits to the same chronic disease clinic in any 2-year window before age 18.Main outcomes measures Group-based trajectory modeling was used to identify groups of adolescents with distinct patterns of health care use (for visits to emergency departments and to primary care practices), while 2 tests explored trajectory group differences (eg, sex, location of residence).Results Median age was 14 years (range 12 to 17 years) at study entry, and 22 years (range 14 to 24 years) at study exit. Half were female and most (85.4%) lived in an urban area. Median observation period was 8.7 person-years (range 1.3 to 9.1 years). Group-based trajectory modeling identified 5 distinct trajectory groups of primary care use and 4 groups of emergency services use. Groups differed by sex and location of residence in each trajectory model.Conclusion Many adolescents increased their use of emergency services between the ages of 12 and 24 years, with distinct patterns of primary care use being observed. Association of additional patient- and system-level factors (eg, disease severity, distance to nearest family physician office) should be explored. ER -