Health

Description: Work stress is widely recognized as a major challenge to both the individual and the economy. It can come from many sources and affect people in different ways. As well, a variety of mitigating factors enter the equation. This article investigates levels, sources and effects of work stress for various socio-demographic and occupational groups.

Description:

Many countries conduct surveys that focus specifically on their population's health. Because health plays a key role in most aspects of life, health data are also often collected in population surveys on other topics. The subject matter of population health surveys broadly encompasses physical and mental heath, dental health, disabilities, substance abuse, health risk factors, nutrition, health promotion, health care utilization and quality, health coverage, and costs. Some surveys focus on specific health conditions, whereas others aim to obtain an overall health assessment. Health is often an important component in longitudinal studies, particularly in birth and aging cohorts. Information about health can be collected by respondents' reports (for themselves and sometimes for others), by medical examinations, and by collecting biological measures. There is a serious concern about the accuracy of health information collected by respondents' reports. Logistical issues, cost considerations, and respondent cooperation feature prominently when the information is collected by medical examinations. Ethical and privacy issues are often important, particularly when DNA and biomarkers are involved. International comparability of health measures is of growing importance. This paper reviews the methodology for a range of health surveys and will discuss the challenges in obtaining accurate data in this field.

Description:

Statistics Canada conducted the Canadian Community Health Survey - Nutrition in 2004. The survey's main objective was to estimate the distributions of Canadians' usual dietary intake at the provincial level for 15 age-sex groups. Such distributions are generally estimated with the SIDE application, but with the choices that were made concerning sample design and method of estimating sampling variability, obtaining those estimates is not a simple matter. This article describes the methodological challenges in estimating usual intake distributions from the survey data using SIDE.

Description:

This study investigates factors associated with obesity in Canada and the U.S., using data from the 2002-03 Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health, a telephone survey conducted jointly by Statistics Canada and the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics. Essentially the same questionnaire was administered in both countries at the same time, yielding a data set that provided unprecedented comparability of national estimates from the two countries. Analysis of empirical distributions of body mass index (BMI) show that American women are appreciably heavier than Canadian women, whereas the distributions of BMI are almost identical for American men and Canadian men. Factors are investigated that may account for the differences between women.

Description:

Using data from the Canadian Community Health Survey, it is possible to estimate the distributions of usual nutrient intake. It is more difficult to estimate the usual consumption of specific food items. Consumption has to be estimated by combining the food item's consumption frequency with the distribution of consumers' usual intake of the food item. It may be difficult to estimate that distribution for less common food items, and it is virtually impossible to obtain reliable estimates of the food item's consumption frequency with only two days of data per respondent. Using an outside source or a parametric assumption may help to overcome this problem. One solution is to use an indirect approach to estimate a food item's impact on the distribution of a nutrient's usual intake by eliminating that food item or partly or completely replacing it with another food item.

Description:

In health studies, it is quite common to collect binary or count repeated responses along with a set of multi-dimensional covariates over a small period of time from a large number of independent families, where the families are selected from a finite population by using certain complex sampling designs. It is of interest to examine the effects of the covariates on the familial longitudinal responses after taking the variation in the family effects as well as the longitudinal correlations of the repeated responses into account. In this paper, I review the advantages and drawbacks of the existing methodologies for the estimation of the regression effects, the variance of the family effects and the longitudinal correlations. We then outline the advantages of a new unified generalized quasilikelihood approach in analyzing the complex design based familial longitudinal data. Some existing numerical studies are discussed as illustrations of the methodologies considered in the paper.

Description:

Estimates of the attributable number of deaths (AD) from all-causes can be obtained by first estimating population attributable risk (AR) adjusted for confounding covariates, and then multiplying the AR by the number of deaths determined from vital mortality statistics that occurred for a specific time period. Proportional hazard regression estimates of adjusted relative hazards obtained from mortality follow-up data from a cohort or a survey is combined with a joint distribution of risk factor and confounding covariates to compute an adjusted AR. Two estimators of adjusted AR are examined, which differ according to the reference population that the joint distribution of risk factor and confounders is obtained. The two types of reference populations considered: (i) the population that is represented by the baseline cohort and (ii) a population that is external to the cohort. Methods based on influence function theory are applied to obtain expressions for estimating the variance of the AD estimator. These variance estimators can be applied to data that range from simple random samples to (sample) weighted multi-stage stratified cluster samples from national household surveys. The variance estimation of AD is illustrated in an analysis of excess deaths due to having a non-ideal body mass index using data from the second National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES) Mortality Study and the 1999-2002 NHANES. These methods can also be used to estimate the attributable number of cause-specific deaths or incident cases of a disease and their standard errors when the time period for the accrual of is short.

Description:

Pursuing reduction in cost and response burden in survey programs has led to increased use of information available in administrative databases. Linkages between these two data sources is a way to exploit their complementary nature and maximize their respective usefulness. This paper discusses the various ways we have performed record linkage between the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) and the Health Person-Oriented Information (HPOI) databases. The files resulting from selected linkage methods are used in an analysis of risk factors for having been hospitalized for heart disease. The sensitivity of the analysis with respect to the various linkage approaches is investigated.

Description:

Despite advances that have improved the health of the United States population, disparities in health remain among various racial/ethnic and socio-economic groups. Common data sources for assessing the health of a population of interest include large-scale surveys that often pose questions requiring a self-report, such as, "Has a doctor or other health professional ever told you that you have health condition of interest?" Answers to such questions might not always reflect the true prevalences of health conditions (for example, if a respondent does not have access to a doctor or other health professional). Similarly, self-reported data on quantities such as height and weight might be subject to reporting errors. Such "measurement error" in health data could affect inferences about measures of health and health disparities. In this work, we fit measurement-error models to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which asks self-report questions during an interview component and also obtains physical measurements during an examination component. We then develop methods for using the fitted models to improve on analyses of self-reported data from another survey that does not include an examination component. The methods, which involve multiply imputing examination-based data values for the survey that has only self-reported data, are applied to the National Health Interview Survey in examples involving diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Preliminary results suggest that the adjustments for measurement error can result in non-negligible changes in estimates of measures of health.

Description:

The U.S. Survey of Occupational Illnesses and Injuries (SOII) is a large-scale establishment survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to measure incidence rates and impact of occupational illnesses and injuries within specified industries at the national and state levels. This survey currently uses relatively simple procedures for detection and treatment of outliers. The outlier-detection methods center on comparison of reported establishment-level incidence rates to the corresponding distribution of reports within specified cells defined by the intersection of state and industry classifications. The treatment methods involve replacement of standard probability weights with a weight set equal to one, followed by a benchmark adjustment.

One could use more complex methods for detection and treatment of outliers for the SOII, e.g., detection methods that use influence functions, probability weights and multivariate observations; or treatment methods based on Winsorization or M-estimation. Evaluation of the practical benefits of these more complex methods requires one to consider three important factors. First, severe outliers are relatively rare, but when they occur, they may have a severe impact on SOII estimators in cells defined by the intersection of states and industries. Consequently, practical evaluation of the impact of outlier methods focuses primarily on the tails of the distributions of estimators, rather than standard aggregate performance measures like variance or mean squared error. Second, the analytic and data-based evaluations focus on the incremental improvement obtained through use of the more complex methods, relative to the performance of the simple methods currently in place. Third, development of the abovementioned tools requires somewhat nonstandard asymptotics the reflect trade-offs in effects associated with, respectively, increasing sample sizes; increasing numbers of publication cells; and changing tails of underlying distributions of observations.

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: 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: 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: Number and percentage of children and youth with changes or no change in their functional difficulties between 2019 and 2023 by gender and age group, Canada (excluding territories) and provinces.

Description: Number and percentage of youth who report changes or no change in their health characteristics between 2019 and 2023 by gender and age group, Canada (excluding territories) and provinces.

Description: This dashboard presents provisional monthly estimates of the levels of amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine (benzoylecgonine), codeine, fentanyl (norfentanyl), ecstasy, methadone, methamphetamine, morphine, and oxycodone in the wastewater of Halifax, Montréal, Toronto, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Edmonton, and Metro Vancouver. The data that are relevant for monitoring the use of these substances in Canadian cities.

Description: Drug metabolites in wastewater, presented as load per capita, in select Canadian cities, by type of drug. The 95% confidence interval, standard error, and imputation rate of the load per capita of the drug metabolites in wastewater are included.

Description: Active commuting (AC) to and from work is associated with numerous health benefits, through increased physical activity. This study examined whether occupation types and part-time work, by sex, were associated with AC in a population-based sample of Canadian workers. This study examined the associations between occupational classifications, part-time work, and AC (i.e., walking, cycling) and public transit use, in a nationally representative sample of Canadian adults, while controlling for other relevant sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., education, income, urbanity). This study also explored how associations between occupational classifications and AC differed by sex and how AC rates may have changed over time.

Description: Physical and sexual childhood abuse are associated with suicidal ideation and mental health disorders. However, less is known about non-physical types of maltreatment. This study examined associations between non-physical types of child maltreatment (e.g., emotional abuse, interpersonal aggression, exposure to physical intimate partner violence, emotional and physical neglect) and suicidal ideation, and mental health disorders.

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 study uses data from multiple waves of the Canadian Social Survey (CSS) to examine trends in three key Quality of Life indicators, namely life satisfaction, experiences of financial hardship, and future outlook. Monitoring these well-being indicators following periods of considerable social and economic change is particularly important. Beginning in the summer of 2021, the CSS, a new quarterly survey, captured the latter part of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the rising cost of living in Canada, allowing for an understanding of how Canadians are coping with these challenges.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: This infographic examines declines in Canadians’ well-being over the past few years, and how these downward changes vary across different segments of the population. Life satisfaction, financial difficulty, and future outlook, which are key quality of life indicators, are presented.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Work arrangements changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, as organizations switched to working from home on a large scale and used digital technologies to adapt to physical distancing mandates. It is largely unknown how changes to work arrangements since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Canada. This article focuses on whether needs and unmet needs for WPAs among employed Canadians with disabilities have changed since 2017, with the widespread deployment of working from home and digital technologies.

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Health regions are defined by the provinces and represent administrative areas or regions of interest to health authorities. This product contains correspondence files (linking health regions to latest Census geographic codes) and digital boundary files. User documentation provides an overview of health regions, sources, methods, limitations and product description (file format and layout).

In addition to the geographic files, this product also includes Census data (basic profile) for health regions.

Description:

This report deals with Indigenous identity, Indigenous ancestry, Indigenous group, Registered or Treaty Indian status, Membership in a First Nation or Indian band, Membership in a Métis organization or Settlement, and Enrollment under an Inuit land claims agreement, and contains explanations of concepts, data quality, historical comparability and comparability with other sources, as well as information on data collection, processing and dissemination.

Description:

Created in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), this user guide with appended data dictionary provides Canadians and researchers with required information to be able to utilize the Detailed preliminary information on confirmed cases of COVID-19 (Revised) table.

The user guide with appended data dictionary describes background information of COVID-19 as well as objectives, coverage, content, limitations and data quality concerns of the table.

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 2022 CSD Concepts and Methods Guide is designed to assist CSD data users by providing relevant information on survey content and concepts, sampling design, collection methods, data processing, data quality and product availability.

Description: The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) is an area-based index which uses Census of Population microdata to measure four key dimensions of deprivation at the dissemination area (DA)-level: residential instability, economic dependency, situational vulnerability and ethno-cultural composition.

The CIMD allows for an understanding of inequalities in various measures of health and social well-being. While it is a geographically-based index of deprivation and marginalization, it can also be used as a proxy for an individual. The CIMD has the potential to be widely used by researchers on a variety of topics related to socio-economic research. Other uses for the index may include: policy planning and evaluation, or resource allocation.

Description:

The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) is an area-based index which uses Census of Population microdata to measure four key dimensions of deprivation at the dissemination area (DA)-level: residential instability, economic dependency, situational vulnerability and ethno-cultural composition. The CIMD allows for an understanding of inequalities in various measures of health and social well-being. While it is a geographically-based index of deprivation and marginalization, it can also be used as a proxy for an individual. The CIMD has the potential to be widely used by researchers on a variety of topics related to socio-economic research. Other uses for the index may include: policy planning and evaluation, or resource allocation.

Description: This electronic publication presents the methodology underlying the production of the life tables for Canada, provinces and territories.

Description:

The User Guide for the Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) outlines uses for the index, as well as it provides a brief description of the methodology behind the development of the index. This User Guide also provides instructions on how to use the index, and lists considerations when using the CIMD data.

Description:

The mandate of the Analytical Studies Branch (ASB) is to provide high-quality, relevant and timely information on economic, health and social issues that are important to Canadians. The branch strategically makes use of expert knowledge and a large range of statistical sources to describe, draw inferences from, and make objective and scientifically supported deductions about the evolving nature of the Canadian economy and society. Research questions are addressed by applying leading-edge methods, including microsimulation and predictive analytics using a range of linked and integrated administrative and survey data. In supporting greater access to data, ASB linked data are made available to external researchers and policy makers to support evidence-based decision making. Research results are disseminated by the branch using a range of mediums (i.e., research papers, studies, infographics, videos, and blogs) to meet user needs. The branch also provides analytical support and training, feedback, and quality assurance to the wide range of programs within and outside Statistics Canada.

Description:

This paper describes the process that led to the creation of the new Disability Screening Questions (DSQ), jointly developped by Statistics Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada. The DSQ form a new module which can be put on general population surveys to allow comparisons of persons with and without a disability. The paper explains why there are two versions of the DSQ—a long and a short one—, the difference between the two, and how each version can be used.