Investigating the association between Veteran status and rate of emergency department visits

LAY SUMMARY How Veterans use the emergency department (ED) after they leave the military could signal unmet health needs or health crises. Describing patterns of ED use could inform health policy to better support Veterans during military service or design programs and services for them after they leave. ED visit records from Ontario were used to compare how often Veterans and non-Veterans visited the ED. How often a Veteran went to the ED, and how that rate compared with that of non-Veterans, depended on how long the Veteran served in the military and whether they were male or female. For example, Veterans with less than 5 or with 5–9 years of service had a higher rate of ED visits relative to non-Veterans, whereas those who served for 20–29 or for 30 years or more had a lower rate of ED visits. An understanding of how to design health services and programs for female Veterans, and for those serving shorter durations, is needed.