Poorer Canadians are more likely to enter hospital for health problems such as child asthma, mental illness and diabetes, including potentially preventable conditions, according to a report released Monday.

The study by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, called Reducing Gaps in Health: A Focus on Socio-Economic Status in Urban Canada, compared hospitalization rates for various illnesses in the country’s 15 largest urban areas, representing two-thirds of the urban population.

Urban Canadians in the lowest socio-economic groups, based on income, education and employment, were more likely to be hospitalized for chronic conditions that could be treated in the community, the study’s authors found for the three-year period between 2003 and 2006.

OTTAWA — A new study says low-income Canadians are more likely to be hospitalized for a variety of health problems, including mental illness, child asthma and diabetes.

The report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information also suggests that many of the diseases that put the poor in hospital could just as easily be treated in the community.

For example, people from lower-income groups were 2.4 times more likely to be hospitalized for diabetes, and children from such groups had 56 per cent higher hospitalization rates for asthma.