Health

Description: Percentage of persons aged 15 years and over by frequency with which they feel lonely, by gender and other selected sociodemographic characteristics: age group; immigrant status; visible minority group; Indigenous identity; persons with a disability, difficulty or long-term condition; LGBTQ2+ people; highest certificate, diploma or degree; main activity; and urban and rural areas.

Description: Over the last several years, recreational screen time has been increasing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, recreational screen time rose among Canadian youth and adults, and those who increased screen time had poorer self-reported mental health. Using data from the 2017, 2018, and 2021 Canadian Community Health Survey, the objective of this study was to compare recreational screen time behaviours before (2018) and during (2021) the pandemic, looking at patterns by sociodemographic subgroups of the Canadian population.

Description: The availability of measures to operationalize allostatic load—the cumulative toll on the body of responding to stressor demands—in population health surveys may differ across years or surveys, hampering analyses on the entire sampled population. In this study, the impacts of variable selection and calculation method were evaluated to generate an allostatic load index applicable across all cycles of the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS). CHMS data were used to compare individual and population-level changes in scores for allostatic load indexes in which other commonly used measures were substituted for waist-to-hip ratio. Associations between the various constructs and indicators of socioeconomic position were then assessed to evaluate whether relationships were maintained across indexes.

Description:

Health Reports, published by the Health Analysis Division of Statistics Canada, is a peer-reviewed journal of population health and health services research. It is designed for a broad audience that includes health professionals, researchers, policymakers, and the general public. The journal publishes articles of wide interest that contain original and timely analyses of national or provincial/territorial surveys or administrative databases. New articles are published electronically each month.

Health Reports had an impact factor of 5.0 for 2022 and a five-year impact factor of 5.6. All articles are indexed in PubMed. Our online catalogue is free and receives more than 700,000 visits per year. External submissions are welcome.

Description: This table provides Canadians and researchers with provisional data to monitor weekly death trends by age and sex in Canada. Given the delays in receiving the data from the provincial and territorial vital statistics offices, these data are considered provisional. Data in this table will be available by province and territory.

Description:

This table provides Canadians and researchers with provisional data to monitor weekly death trends in Canada. Given the delays in receiving the data from the provincial and territorial vital statistics offices, these data are considered provisional. Data in this table will be available by province and territory.

Description:

This table provides Canadians and researchers with provisional data to monitor weekly death trends by selected grouped causes of death in Canada. Given the delays in receiving the data from the provincial and territorial vital statistics offices, these data are considered provisional. Data in this table will be available by province and territory.

Description: The table displays weekly age standardized mortality rates for every province in Canada (excluding territories), by sex, since 2019. The standardization is done using the 2011 Canadian population.

Description: This dashboard presents data that are relevant for monitoring mortality in Canada. The interactive visualization within the dashboard features insights on weekly death trends from the Canadian Vital Statistics - Death (CVSD) database.

Description: Number and percentage of persons by household food security status and economic family type, Canada and provinces.

Description: Differences in the number and proportions of persons with disabilities who experienced one or more barriers to accessibility, by the type of disability, age group and gender, Canada.

Description: Differences in the number and proportions of persons with disabilities who experienced one or more barriers to accessibility, by the severity of the disability, age group and gender, Canada.

Description: Differences in the number and proportions of persons with disabilities who experienced a barrier to accessibility, Canada, provinces and territories.

Description: This dashboard allows users to examine data on barriers to accessibility experienced by persons with disabilities. These are barriers encountered in different aspects of daily living including those found in public spaces; communicating in different situations; using the Internet and barriers related to behaviours, misconceptions or assumptions by others. The data can be organized by province, gender and other characteristics such as age group. This dashboard is based on the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability.

Description: Monthly indexes and percentage changes for selected sub-groups of the health and personal care component of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), not seasonally adjusted, for Canada, provinces, Whitehorse and Yellowknife. Data are presented for the corresponding month of the previous year, the previous month and the current month. The base year for the index is 2002=100.

Description: Percentage of persons aged 15 years and over by level of life satisfaction, by gender, for Canada, regions and provinces.

Description: Percentage of persons aged 15 years and over by level of life satisfaction, by gender and other selected sociodemographic characteristics: age group; immigrant status; visible minority group; Indigenous identity; persons with a disability, difficulty or long-term condition; LGBTQ2+ people; highest certificate, diploma or degree; main activity; and urban and rural areas.

Description: Percentage of persons aged 15 years and over by level of sense of meaning and purpose, by gender, for Canada, regions and provinces.

Description: Percentage of persons aged 15 years and over by level of sense of meaning and purpose, by gender and other selected sociodemographic characteristics: age group; immigrant status; visible minority group; Indigenous identity; persons with a disability, difficulty or long-term condition; LGBTQ2+ people; highest certificate, diploma or degree; main activity; and urban and rural areas.

Description: Percentage of persons aged 15 years and over by frequency with which they have a hopeful outlook, by gender, for Canada, regions and provinces.

Description:

This article illustrates analytical uses of multiple-cause-of-death data, which reflect all causes entered on the death certificate, not only the single, underlying cause. Heart diseases are used as an example.

Description:

This article investigates whether, compared with younger women, those aged 30-34 and 35 and older experienced a higher risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and maternal complications, and whether their infants faced an increased risk of perinatal complications and congenital anomalies.

Description:

For historical reasons, the best known life tables and those most often used are period tables. They are built using death rates by age for a short period of observation (often a single year) and have as their purpose to represent the status of mortality for this period. The survivors and deaths appearing in their columns are in a way abstractions rather than reality. It is thus erroneous to believe that the life table for a given year (for example, 1995) serves in any way whatever to predict the rate at which those born that year will pass away and, hence, of the average length of the life that they have just begun. With rare exceptions, the average number of years lived by individuals has always been longer than the life expectancy found in the life table constructed for the year of their birth. This is due to the fact that period tables are established using the risks of death by age prevailing in that year. But the ceaseless battle against death reduces these risks year after year for these ages and, by growing older, people benefit from these successive gains.

To reconstitute (or foresee) the rate at which the members of a cohort have (or will) really pass away, it is necessary to deploy very long series of death rates by age and to possess reliable indicators of missing data, and then to adjust them to establish the actual experience of the persons in a cohort. Built in exactly the same way as period tables, these tables are naturally called cohort tables, but comparing observations of their parameters yields conclusions of a different kind.

Description:

This aritcle analyzes abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) surgery rates by sex for inpatients of Canadian hospitals. Possible reasons for the observed gender differences in surgery rates are discussed.

Description: This article examines the characteristics associated with getting or not getting a mammogram, focusing on women aged 50-59.

Description: This article updates recently published information on Canadian breast cancer mortality, highlighting a lower rate in 1995, a marked decline in the rate since 1990, and possible factors contributing to this trend.

Description:

Using Canadian mortality data from 1974 to 1995, this article examines seasonal and daily patterns of death by cause.

Description:

Context : Lung cancer has been the leading cause of cancer deaths in Canadian males for many years, and since 1994, this has been the case for Canadian femalesas well. It is therefore important to evaluate the resources required for its diagnosis and treatment. This article presents an estimate of the direct medical costsassociated with the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer calculated through the use of a micro-simulation model. For disease incidence, 1992 was chosen as thereference year, whereas costs are evaluated according to the rates that prevailed in 1993.Methods : A model for lung cancer has been incorporated into the Population Health Model (POHEM). The parameters of the model were drawn in part fromStatistics Canada's Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR), which provides information on the incidence and histological classification of lung cancer cases in Canada.The distribution of cancer stage at diagnosis was estimated by using information from two provincial cancer registries. A team of oncologists derived "typical" treatment approaches reflective of current practice, and the associated direct costs were calculated for these approaches. Once this information and the appropriatesurvival curves were incorporated into the POHEM model, overall costs of treatment were estimated by means of a Monte Carlo simulation.Results: It is estimated that overall, the direct medical costs of lung cancer diagnosis and treatment were just over $528 million. The cost per year of life gained as aresult of treatment of the disease was approximately $19,450. For the first time in Canada, it was possible to estimate the five year costs following diagnosis, bystage of the disease at the time of diagnosis. It was possible to estimate the cost per year of additional life gained for three alternative treatments of non small-cell lungcancer (NSCLC). Sensitivity analyses showed that these costs varied between $1,870 and $6,860 per year of additional life gained, which compares favourablywith the costs that the treatment of other diseases may involve.Conclusions: Contrary to widespread perceptions, it appears that the treatment of lung cancer is effective from an economic standpoint. In addition, the use of amicro-simulation model such as POHEM not only makes it possible to incorporate information from various sources in a coherent manner but also offers thepossibility of estimating the effect of alternative medical procedures from the standpoint of financial pressures on the health care system.

Description:

In 1994, an estimated 6% of Canadians aged 18 and over - 1.1 million adults - experienced a Major Depressive Episode (MDE). Although depression is amenable to treatment, fewer than half (43%) the people who met the criteria of having experienced an MDE in the past year (approximately 487,000) reported talking to a health professional about their emotional or mental health. Furthermore, only 26% of those who had an MDE reported four or more such consultations. As expected, depression that was not chronic was more likely to be untreated. In addition, MDE sufferers whose physical health was good and those who had not recently experienced a negative life event were less likely to be treated. However, after controlling for these factors, a multivariate model suggests that lower educational attainment and inadequate income acted as barriers to treatment. Relatively few contacts with a general practitioner substantially reduced the odds of being treated. Also, men and married people who were depressed were less likely to receive treatment. With data from Statistics Canada's 1994-95 National Population Health Survey (NPHS), this article examines the characteristics of people who met the criteria for having had an MDE, but who discontinued or did not receive treatment. The selection of explanatory variables was informed by an established theoretical framework of individual determinants of health service utilization, proposed by Andersen and Newman. Logistic regression was used to predict the probability of not being treated among people who experienced an MDE.

Description:

Meeting the need for physician care outside of urban centres has long been a health policy concern. The challenges of providing such services in these areas stem from relatively fewer physicians and greater travel distances. In 1993, nearly all (99%) residents of large urban centres (with one million or more people) were less than 5 km from the nearest doctor. But outside of urban centres, only 56% of residents were situated that close to a physician. As well, proximity to physicians varied with income in less urbanized and rural areas, but not in more urbanized areas. And while Canadians in the southernmost parts of the country enjoyed very short distances to a physician, in northern latitudes, physicians tended to be much farther away. For instance, in 1993, at 65-69o north latitude, with 3,974 people for every physician, nearly two-thirds of the population (64%) was 100 km or more from the nearest doctor. By contrast, below 45o north latitude, which includes Halifax, Toronto and all of southwestern Ontario, the population to physician ratio was 476, and 91% of the population was within 5 km of a physician. Using the Canadian Medical Association's 1993 address registry of physicians, this article analyses the distance to the nearest physician (57,291 physicians) from a representative point within each of Canada's 45,995 census Enumeration Areas. Distance to the nearest physician by their specialty is also considered.

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.