The Evidence Speaks Series is a recurring feature highlighting the latest in Advancing Health research. This series features summaries of select publications and is designed to keep media and the research community up to date with the Centre’s current research results in the health outcomes field.
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Injuries from road accidents lead to significant indirect costs related to lost productivity
Momenyan S, Chan H, Taylor JA, Staples JA, Bryan S, Harris DR, Brubacher JR. Healthcare and productivity costs among Canadian road trauma survivors over the year following injury. Sci Rep. 2025;15(1):17723.
Road accidents are a major public health problem in Canada and a significant cause of death and long-term disability. Costs related to long-term disability from road accidents include direct (medical) costs and indirect costs from lost productivity. However, there is a lack of information about the long-term economic costs of road accidents, which led Advancing Health Scientist, Dr. John Staples to join a team of researchers to quantify the direct and indirect costs in the year following injury related in road accidents in BC. The study enrolled 1,480 survivors of road trauma (RT) from three BC emergency departments from July 2018 to March 2020. The team tracked health care costs and conducted interviews over the course of a year. They found the average health care cost per survivor was $19,280, with this value being far greater for older patients. The researchers defined productivity loss as a mixture of absenteeism (being unable to work), presenteeism (working at a lower capacity or quality), or loss of work. They quantified the number of working hours each participant lost via questionnaire, and then multiplied it by the average hourly wage for people of that age group and sex. The mean productivity cost for RT survivors was $4,390 and was 53 per cent higher for women compared to men. This study reveals the importance of implementing screening to identify and target at-risk RT survivors with early cost-saving health interventions. It also underscores the importance of improving road safety to reduce both systemic and personal economic burdens.
Indigenous People who use drugs are disproportionately impacted by public health emergencies due to underlying colonial trauma
Cassidy-Matthews C, Hendry J, Pearce M, Pooyak S, Zamar D, Reading J, Caron N, Schechter M, Spittal P, Christian W. Navigating concurrent public health emergencies: Indigenous perspectives from the Cedar Project in British Columbia. PLOS Glob Public Heal. 2025;5(6): e0004658.
Research indicates that urban Indigenous Peoples who use drugs (IPWUD) faced significant challenges due to emergency public health restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by the ongoing toxic drug supply crisis, and housing instability. Advancing Health Scientist, Dr. Martin Schechter and his team aimed to understand the experiences of urban IPWUD as they navigated the pandemic and the corresponding public health response in Vancouver and Prince George, BC, through nineteen semi-structured interviews conducted as part of the Cedar Project COVID-19 Study. Their findings revealed four key themes that suggested that enduring impacts of colonialism exacerbated pandemic-related stress among Indigenous Peoples. This stress led to cycles of isolation, uncertainty, and crisis that destabilized the participants, and fear and trauma-driven distrust that amplified experiences of grief and loss amidst conflicting public health protocols. However, resilience and connection emerged as crucial protective factors against pandemic-related harm. Through the participants’ stories, the researchers quantified the profound impact of historical and ongoing inequities on urban IPWUD during the COVID-19 pandemic. They concluded that pre-existing sociodemographic disparities such as unstable housing and substance use issues were further intensified by the crisis, affecting perceptions of COVID-19 risk, access to essential services, and community dynamics. By recognizing and addressing inequities like substance use and unstable housing, both in the immediate response to crises like COVID-19 and in broader systemic reform, health authorities can better support the resilience and well-being of Indigenous Peoples who use drugs.
Accessible health intervention, GetCheckedOnline digital testing program analyzed through the lens of cost-effectiveness, sustainability and scalability
Zhang W, Oriuwa C, Chang H-J, Haag D, Pedersen H, Nosyk B, Gilbert M. Cost of the GetCheckedOnline digital testing program: Micro-costing analysis. Sex Transm Dis. 2025.
GetCheckedOnline.com (GCO) is a digital sexually transmitted and blood-borne infection (STBBI) testing service provided in BC. GCO allows users to test for STBBIs by creating their own virtual lab requisition, attending a lab for specimen collection, and retrieving results online. Advancing Health Scientists, Drs. Bohdan Nosyk and Wei Zhang, and team conducted a micro-costing analysis to inform the cost-effectiveness, economies of scale, and sustainability of the intervention in the long-term. Micro-costing refers to a method of analysis that precisely estimates the economic costs of an intervention by tracking and valuing every resource used, often at the individual patient or unit level. Using data from 2009 to 2019, the team estimated the total cost of GCO was $5.5M (from conception to launch). After launch, a total of 86,012 STBBI tests were conducted, with a cost of $64.30 per test. The researchers observed an increase in testing capacity with time and a decrease in cost per test, indicating an improved return on investment. These results demonstrate the feasibility of a web-based STBBI testing program like GetCheckedOnline which succeed at providing a convenient and discreet option to access STBBI testing while demonstrating substantial economies of scope and scale, making a case for the program’s implementation in other settings.
