Health

Description:

This paper describes the sample design used to satisfy the objectives and logistics of the Canadian Health Measures Survey. Among the challenges in developing the design were the need to select respondents close to clinics, the difficulty of achieving the desired sample size for young people, and subsampling for measures associated with exposure to environmental contaminants. The sample design contains solutions to those challenges: the establishment of collection sites, the use of more than one sample frame, and a respondent selection strategy.

Description:

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) is one of a series of health-related programs sponsored by the United States National Center for Health Statistics. A unique feature of NHANES is the administration of a complete medical examination for each respondent in the sample. To standardize administration, these examinations are carried out in mobile examination centers (MECs). The examination includes physical measurements, tests such as eye and dental examinations, and the collection of blood and urine specimens for laboratory testing. NHANES is an ongoing annual health survey of the noninstitutionalized civilian population of the United States. The major analytic goals of NHANES include estimating the number and percentage of persons in the U.S. population and in designated subgroups with selected diseases and risk factors. The sample design for NHANES needs to create a balance between the requirements for efficient annual and multiyear samples and the flexibility that allows changes in key design parameters to make the survey more responsive to the needs of the research and health policy communities. This paper discusses the challenges involved in designing and implementing a sample selection process that satisfies the goals of NHANES.

Description:

In the last two decades, considerable international effort has been put into the development of summary measures of population health that integrate information of mortality and non-fatal health outcomes and international policy interest in such indicators is increasing. There are two main classes of summary measures of population health: health gaps and health expectancies. The Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) is the best known health gap measure and quantifies the gap between a population's actual health and a normative health goal, defined in terms of a global standard life table specifying the healthy years of life lost due to a death at any given age.

This paper gives an overview of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) conceptual framework, the relationship of the DALY to other measures of population health, and the GBD analytical approach, with particular attention to issues in (1) dealing with biased and missing data, (2) dealing with uncertainty and (3) specific technical issues in ensuring cross-population comparability. The latter include dealing with variations in quality and completeness of cause of death information, explicit use of a comprehensive framework and internal consistency checks for improving comparability of estimates of incidence, prevalence and mortality for causes, the assessment of disability weights, and techniques for improving the comparability of the assessment of the disease burden attributable to risk factors.

Description:

During the last three decades, there has been general acceptance of an approach to describing health states of individuals in terms of multiple domains of health, and in developing self-report instruments that seek information on each of these domains. A health state is thus a multi-dimensional attribute of an individual that reflects his or her levels on the various components or domains of health. Thus, a health state differs from pathology, risk factors or etiology, and from health service encounters or interventions.

How to describe health states, is a central challenge in undertaking the measurement of health. The relationship of health states to other aspects of health such as future non-fatal health outcomes or risk of mortality need to be examined. The way people report their own health varies consistently with factors such as education, sex, age, or other cultural factors. Various people use different response category cut-points across cultures or population sub-groups, and this 'response shift' implies that self-report categorical data are not comparable across individuals. The responses cannot be directly used to measure health without adjustment.

In recognition of this the WHO World Health Surveys (WHS), used a set of questions across a core set of domains to measure health states and employed vignettes to detect and correct for biases in self-report in order to adjust for response category cut-point shifts. This paper will describe the instrument used in the WHS and the methods used to provide cross population comparable data. It will present results from the WHS demonstrating the existence of systematic reporting biases, the ability of respondents to rate vignettes and their use to adjust for biases in order to make data more comparable. Future strategies to address these problems will be discussed.

Description:

In this presentation, Mr. Murray discusses the notion of functional health status and proposes an agenda for developing comparable methods of measuring this concept.

Description:

We describe statistical disclosure control methods (SDC) developed for a public release Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP) micro-data file. CHIRPP is a national injury surveillance database managed by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). After describing CHIRPP, the paper includes a brief overview of basic SDC concepts, as an introduction to the process for selecting and developing the appropriate SDC methods for CHIRPP given its specific challenges and requirements. We then summarize some key results. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implication of this work for the health information field and closing remarks with respect to the some methodological issues for consideration.

Description:

The process of public-use micro-data files creation involves a number of components. One of its key elements is RTI International's innovative MASSC methodology. However, there are other major components in this process such as treatment of non-core identifying variables and extreme outcomes for extra protection. The statistical disclosure limitation is designed to counter both inside and outside intrusion. The components of the process are accordingly designed.

Description:

In 1999, the first nationally representative survey of the mental health of children and young people aged 5-15 was carried out in Great Britain. A second survey was carried out in 2004. The aim of these surveys was threefold: to estimate the prevalence of mental disorders among young people, to look at their use of health, social and educational services, and to investigate risk factors associated with mental disorders. The achieved number of interviews was 10,500 and 8,000 respectively. Some key questions had to be addressed on a large number of methodological issues and the factors taken into account to reach decisions on all these issues are discussed.

Description:

In accordance with an effort to design a set of questions for the Current Population Survey (CPS) to measure disability, potential questions were drawn from existing surveys, cognitively and field tested. Based on an analysis of the test data, a set of seven questions was identified, cognitively tested, and placed in the February 2006 CPS for testing. Analysis of the data revealed a lower overall disability rate as measured in the CPS than in the field test, with lower positive response rates for each question. The data did not indicate that there was an adverse effect on the response rates.

Description:

On behalf of Statistics Canada, I would like to welcome you all, friends and colleagues, to Symposium 2006. This the 23rd International Symposium organized by Statistics Canada on survey methodology.

Description:

This table contains 27840 series, with data for years 2005 - 2005 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years), and is no longer being released. This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (29 items: Quebec; Région du Bas-Saint-Laurent, Quebec; Région du Saguenay - Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec; Région de la Capitale Nationale, Quebec; ...); Age group (10 items: Total, 15 to 74 years; 15 to 19 years; 20 to 34 years; 20 to 24 years; ...); Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Males; Females); Decision latitude at work (4 items: Total population for the variable decision latitude at work; High decision latitude at work; Low or medium decision latitude at work; Decision latitude at work, not stated); Characteristics (8 items: Number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval, number of persons; High 95% confidence interval, number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons; ...).

Description:

This table contains 401184 series, with data for years 2000 - 2000 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (199 items: Canada; Newfoundland and Labrador; Health and Community Services St. John's Region; Newfoundland and Labrador (Peer group H);Health and Community Services Eastern Region; Newfoundland and Labrador (Peer group D) ...), Age group (14 items: Total; 12 years and over;12 to 14 years;12 to 19 years;15 to 19 years ...), Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Females; Males ...), Former smokers (6 items: Total; former smokers; Former smokers; quit 3 to 5 years ago; Former smokers; quit less than one year ago; Former smokers; quit 1 to 2 years ago ...), Characteristics (8 items: Number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval; number of persons; High 95% confidence interval; number of persons ...).

Description:

This table contains 401184 series, with data for years 2000 - 2000 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (199 items: Canada; Newfoundland and Labrador; Health and Community Services Eastern Region; Newfoundland and Labrador (Peer group D);Health and Community Services St. John's Region; Newfoundland and Labrador (Peer group H) ...), Age group (14 items: Total; 12 years and over;12 to 19 years;15 to 19 years;12 to 14 years ...), Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Females; Males ...), Blood pressure check (6 items: Total; blood pressure check; Blood pressure check; within past 12 months; Blood pressure check; 2 or more years ago; Blood pressure check; 1 year to less than 2 years ago ...), Characteristics (8 items: Number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval; number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons; High 95% confidence interval; number of persons ...).

Description:

This table contains 126720 series, with data for years 2000 - 2000 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Age group (12 items: Total; 15 years and over;20 to 34 years;20 to 24 years;15 to 19 years ...), Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Females; Males ...), Suicidal thoughts and attempts (5 items: Total; suicidal thoughts and attempts; Suicide; considered in past 12 months; Suicide; attempted in past 12 months; Suicide; never contemplated ...), Characteristics (8 items: Number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval; number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons; High 95% confidence interval; number of persons ...).

Description:

This table contains 32928 series, with data for years 2003 - 2005 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (14 items: Canada; Newfoundland and Labrador ...) Age group (14 items: Total; 12 years and over; 12 to 19 years; 15 to 19 years; 12 to 14 years ...) Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Females; Males ...) Pain or discomfort that affects activities (7 items: Total population for the variable pain or discomfort that affects activities; Pain or discomfort; does not prevent activity; Pain or discomfort; prevents a few or some activities; No pain or discomfort that affects activities ...) Characteristics (8 items: Number of persons; High 95% confidence interval; number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval; number of persons ...).

Description:

This table contains 32928 series, with data for years 2003 - 2005 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (14 items: Canada; Newfoundland and Labrador ...) Age group (14 items: 12 to 19 years; 12 to 14 years; 15 to 19 years; Total; 12 years and over ...) Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Females; Males ...) Pain or discomfort by severity (7 items: Total population for the variable pain or discomfort by severity; No pain or discomfort; Moderate pain or discomfort; Mild pain or discomfort ...) Characteristics (8 items: Number of persons; High 95% confidence interval; number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval; number of persons ...).

Description:

This table contains 12096 series, with data for years 2003 - 2005 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (14 items: Canada; Newfoundland and Labrador ...) Age group (12 items: Total; 15 years and over; 15 to 19 years; 20 to 34 years; 20 to 24 years ...) Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Males; Females ...) Patient satisfaction, telephone health line services (3 items: Used telephone health line services in the past 12 months; Quality of telephone health line services used rated as excellent or good; Very or somewhat satisfied with telephone health line services ...) Characteristics (8 items: Number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval; number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons; High 95% confidence interval; number of persons ...).

Description:

This table contains 127008 series, with data for years 2005 - 2005 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (126 items: Canada; Newfoundland and Labrador; Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority; Newfoundland and Labrador; Central Regional Integrated Health Authority; Newfoundland and Labrador ...) Age group (6 items: Total; 12 years and over; 12 to 19 years ...) Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Females; Males ...) Self-rated health (7 items: Total population for the variable self-rated health; Very good self-rated health; Good self-rated health; Excellent self-rated health ...) Characteristics (8 items: Number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval; number of persons; High 95% confidence interval; number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons ...).

Description:

This table contains 127008 series, with data for years 2005 - 2005 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (126 items: Canada; Central Regional Integrated Health Authority; Newfoundland and Labrador; Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority; Newfoundland and Labrador; Newfoundland and Labrador ...) Age group (6 items: Total; 12 years and over; 12 to 19 years ...) Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Males; Females ...) Smoking status (7 items: Total population for the variable smoking status; Daily smoker; Occasional smoker; Former smoker ...) Characteristics (8 items: Number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons; High 95% confidence interval; number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval; number of persons ...).

Description:

This table contains 127008 series, with data for years 2005 - 2005 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (126 items: Canada; Newfoundland and Labrador; Central Regional Integrated Health Authority; Newfoundland and Labrador; Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority; Newfoundland and Labrador ...) Age group (6 items: Total; 12 years and over; 12 to 19 years ...) Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Males; Females ...) Regular medical doctor (7 items: Total population for the variable regular medical doctor; Has not looked for a regular medical doctor; Cannot find a regular medical doctor; Has a regular medical doctor ...) Characteristics (8 items: Number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons; High 95% confidence interval; number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval; number of persons ...).

Description: Respondents to typical household surveys tend to significantly underreport their potential use of food aid distributed by associations. This underreporting is most likely related to the social stigma felt by people experiencing great financial difficulty. As a result, survey estimates of the number of recipients of that aid are much lower than the direct counts from the associations. Those counts tend to overestimate due to double counting. Through its adapted protocol, the Enquête Aide alimentaire (EAA) collected in late 2021 in France at a sample of sites of food aid distribution associations, controls the biases that affect the other sources and determines to what extent this aid is used.

Description: As the importance of subjective well-being to health continues to garner increasing attention from researchers and policy makers, community belonging has emerged as a potential population health target that has been linked to several self-rated measures of health and well-being in Canada. This study assessed novel area-level community belonging measures derived using small area estimation and examined associations with individual-level measures of community belonging and self-rated health.

Description: Canada is experiencing rapid population aging, which has a wide range of implications, including an increased need for health care services. However, very few studies have examined use of specialized health care services (e.g., visits to medical specialists, non-emergency tests, and surgeries) among older Canadians. Using data from the 2019/2020 Canadian Health Survey on Seniors, this study examines the prevalence of specialized health care service use and evaluates the association of predisposing factors, enabling resources, and need-related factors with specialized health care service use in the past 12 months among Canadians aged 65 or older.

Description: The Quality of Life Framework includes indicators that are meaningful in measuring a person's happiness and well-being like life satisfaction, for instance. Using data from Wave 10 of the Canadian Social Survey (collected from July 14, 2023 to September 07, 2023), this infographic looks at levels of life satisfaction amongst the Canadian population aged 15 years and older in Canada's 10 provinces. Survey respondents were asked: "Using a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 means 'Very dissatisfied' and 10 means 'Very satisfied,' how do you feel about your life as a whole right now?"

Description: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted several issues among health care workers in Canada’s long-term care and seniors’ (LTCS) homes, including labour shortages, staff retention difficulties, overcrowding, and precarious working conditions. There is currently a lack of information on the health, well-being, and working conditions of health care workers in LTCS homes—many of them immigrants—and a limited understanding of the relationship between them. Using data from the 2021 Survey on Health Care Workers’ Experiences During the Pandemic, this paper examines differences between immigrant and non-immigrant workers’ health outcomes and precarious working conditions during the pandemic.

Description: The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted routine and preventive dental services until precautions could be implemented to limit virus transmission. Access to services for dental emergencies was maintained. This study describes self-reported access to oral health care services in Canada during the first 12-month period of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the reported need for routine or emergency oral health care. It also compares the access to, and the unmet need for, dental services by various sociodemographic characteristics, including by province.

Description: This infographic examines where youth aged 15 to 17 in Canada typically get their sexual health information, using data from the Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth (CHSCY) 2019.

Description: This article provides an in-depth look at trends in fertility in Canada from 1921 to 2022. The evolution of the total fertility rate (TFR) over time is examined, with a special focus on shifts that have occurred following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The shifts observed in Canada's TFR from 2019 to 2022 are situated in an international context, and differences among the provincial and territories are explored. Also, year-over-year changes in the monthly number of births are analyzed and contrasted with the experience of other countries. Lastly, trends in age-specific fertility rates and the average age of childbearing in Canada are described, as well the cumulated fertility of different cohorts of women to date.

Description: Sexual health education delivered in school, provided by parents, or provided by other formal sources has been associated with increased rates of condom use and improvements in many other sexual risk behaviours. Friends and the internet are other information sources, although quality and accuracy of information are not always as high. The objective of this study is to update Canadian information about sources of sex education self-reported by adolescents and the related resource of having an adult to talk with about puberty and sexual health. Data from the 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth were used to examine the sources typically used to obtain sexual health information by 15- to 17-year-olds, as well as the prevalence and characteristics of adolescents reporting not having an adult to talk with about sexual health and puberty.

Description: Immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases such as shingles and pneumococcal disease play an important role in the overall health and well being of older Canadians. However, vaccine uptake remains low. Using data from The Canadian Health Survey on Seniors – 2019/2020, this study examined the prevalence and factors associated with shingles and pneumococcal vaccination among individuals aged 65 and older living in the community.

Description:

Introductory video for the survey provided to respondents at the household and posted on the Canadian Health Measures Survey Respondent relations (Statcan) website.

Description:

The Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD) is a national survey of Canadians aged 15 and over whose everyday activities are limited because of a long-term condition or health-related problem.

The 2012 CSD Concepts and Methods Guide is designed to assist data users by providing relevant information on survey content and concepts, sampling design, collection methods, data processing, data quality and product availability. Chapter 1 of this guide provides an overview of the 2012 CSD by introducing the survey's background and objectives. Chapter 2 explains the key concepts and definitions and introduces the indicators measured by the CSD questionnaire modules. Chapters 3 to 6 cover important aspects of survey methodology, from sampling design to data collection and processing. Chapters 7 and 8 cover issues of data quality, including the approaches used to minimize and correct errors throughout all stages of the survey. Users are cautioned against making comparisons with data from previous Participation and Activity Limitations Surveys. Chapter 9 outlines the survey products that are available to the public, including data tables, a fact sheet and reference material. Appendices provide more detail on survey indicators as well as a glossary of terms.

Description:

Mental illnesses largely involve alterations in mood, thinking, and behaviour, as well as other domains of mental functioning, and affect almost all Canadians in some way, either directly or indirectly. They routinely cause significant impairments in emotional functioning, which may lead to social or physical limitations. In some cases, such as in agoraphobia, individuals cannot even leave their homes due to intense anxiety; depression can cause an individual to lose all interest in life. This document describes the mental illnesses that have the greatest impact on Canadians in terms of prevalence or severity of disability, and how they affect the health status of Canadians.

Description:

This report presents the results of the 3rd Consensus Conference on Health Indicators that was convened in March 2009, including information that was presented at the conference, a summary of the consultation process leading up to the event, and the priority health areas deemed most important for future indicator development work.

The conference marked the 10th anniversary of the Health Indicators project, a collaboration between Statistics Canada and Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). The goal of the project is to provide health regions, health care providers and the public in general with reliable and comparable data on the health of Canadians and to assist stakeholders and decision makers in the use and interpretation of the indicator data.

Description:

Since 2007/2008, Statistics Canada has centred analysis of data holdings related to health as well as our program of dissemination of health research within the new Health Information and Research Division (HIRD).

The new division has launched a comprehensive approach to analytical planning including environmental scanning and consultation; establishment of strategic multi-year priorities for health research at Statistics Canada; a process of project selection and review that ensures that analytical effort addresses our priorities; metrics to measure our adherence to priorities and the impact of our analytical effort; and communication and dissemination of analytical plans.

This multi-year analytical plan identifies the key high-level priority areas for Statistics Canada's investment in health research for 2008/2009 to 2010/2011, and serves as a blueprint for subsequent operational research planning.

Description:

This special methodological paper will help readers understand and assess reports that rank the health status or health system performance of a country, province or jurisdiction. The report outlines the components and processes that underlie health rankings, explores why such rankings can be difficult to interpret and includes a plain-language checklist to use as a critical evaluative resource when reading health-ranking reports.

Description:

This report highlights the latest developments and rationale behind recent cycles of the General Social Survey (GSS). Starting with an overview of the GSS mandate and historic cycle topics, we then focus on two recent cycles related to families in Canada: Family Transitions (2006) and Family, Social Support and Retirement (2007). Finally, we give a summary of what is to come in the 2008 GSS on Social Networks, and describe a special project to mark 'Twenty Years of GSS'.

The survey collects data over a twelve month period from the population living in private households in the 10 provinces. For all cycles except Cycles 16 and 21, the population aged 15 and older has been sampled. Cycles 16 and 21 sampled persons aged 45 and older.

Cycle 20 (GSS 2006) is the fourth cycle of the GSS to collect data on families (the first three cycles on the family were in 1990, 1995 and 2001). Cycle 20 covers much the same content as previous cycles on families with some sections revised and expanded. The data enable analysts to measure conjugal and fertility history (chronology of marriages, common-law unions, and children), family origins, children's home leaving, fertility intentions, child custody as well as work history and other socioeconomic characteristics. Questions on financial support agreements or arrangements (for children and the ex-spouse or ex-partner) for separated and divorced families have been modified. Also, sections on social networks, well-being and housing characteristics have been added.

Description:

The Record Linkage Overview describes the process used in annual internal record linkage of the Canadian Cancer Registry. The steps include: preparation; pre-processing; record linkage; post-processing; analysis and resolution; resolution entry; and, resolution processing.

Description:

The compendium of Canadian Cancer Registry procedures manuals set out the rules for reporting cancer data to the CCR for all provincial and territorial cancer registries.

Description:

The Record Linkage Overview describes the process used in annual internal record linkage of the Canadian Cancer Registry. The steps include: preparation; pre-processing; record linkage; post-processing; analysis and resolution; resolution entry; and, resolution processing.