Health

Description:

Changes in Statistics Canada's annual population estimates, introduced in 1993, have an impact on a wide range of social, economic and demographic indicators. Any indicator that relies on population estimates will be affected by the new figures. This article describes the adjustment and examines its impact on health and vital statistics rates. With rare exceptions, all rates decrease as the denominators are adjusted upward. For example, accident rates, suicide rates, and age-specific fertility rates based on the adjustment population are lower than those previously calculated. The extent of the adjustment, however, depends on the geographic and demographic characteristics of the population at risk. Analysts whose work concentrates on special subgroups for whom the adjustment is particularly great (such as young adult men) may wish to pay closer attention to the new population figures. Although the new rates are lower than before, underlying trends and patterns over time or across subcategories are quite similar. The revised series incorporates estimates of net census undercoverage, and for the first time, includes non-permanent residents. In 1991, net census undercoverage and non-permanent residents together amounted to about one million persons, or 3.6% of the revised Canadian population of 28,120,100.

Description:

This article examines national and regional trends in mortality and morbidity due to abdominal aortic aneurysms from 1969 to 1991. Annual age-adjusted mortality and hospital separation rates were calculated for men and women aged 55 and older whose underlying cause of death was abdominal aortic aneurysm, or who were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of abdominal aortic aneurysm. In recent decades, abdominal aortic aneurysm mortality rates remained stable, in contrast to substantial declines in mortality rates for cerebrovascular disease and cardiovascular disease. The pattern was similar for both sexes, although rates were four to five times higher among men than among women. In 1991, age-adjusted rates were around 31.0 per 100,000 men aged 55 and over and 8.5 per 100,000 women aged 55 and over. Over the 1969 to 1991 period mortality rates in all regions tended to coverage. Although mortality rates were stable, hospital separation rates for abdominal aortic aneurysms increased sharply, particularly for unruptured aneurysms. Screening programs have been able to detect asymptomatic abdominal aortic aneurysms, and surgical intervention can substantially reduce mortality. However, the costs and benefits of screnning programs should be assessed. If current mortality rates persist, as the baby boom ages there will be an absolute increase in the number of deaths from abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Description:

In the early 1990s, Canadians were less likely to be hospitalized than they had been a decade before. And when they did enter hospital, their stays tended to be shorter. As well, hospitalization for surgical procedures was less frequent and required less time in hospital.

Nonetheless, a few patterns persisted throughout the decade. Females were more likely than males to be admitted to hospital - largely a reflection of obstetrical procedures - but females' average length of stay was slightly less than that of male patients. However, with advancing age, the likelihood of hospitalization and the duration of stays increased for both sexes.

Description:

Between 1992 and 1993, the life expectancy at birth of Canadians fell slightly, from 78.06 to 77.95 years. This decline reflected an unusually sharp upturn in the number of deaths in 1993, which was attributable, to some extent, to an influenza outbreak in early spring that year, and to substantial increases in tobaccorelated deaths among women. The overall decline in life expectancy occurred in every province except Nova Scotia, and affected both sexes, although it was more pronounced among females.

Description:

The survey, begun in February 1994, monitors the smoking patterns of Canadians over a 12 month period and to measure any changes in smoking resulting from the decrease in taxes in cigarettes which took place in February 1994 in some provinces. It is related to MDF 82M0006. Updates are included in the microdata file price. A guide for this microdata file is available.

Description:

Lack of sleep is not the only cause of daytime sleepiness; many other things can induce it, including excessive warmth, boredom, or performing a demanding but uninteresting task. This study measures tiredness based on respondent assessment of drowsiness during working hours.

Description:

More than one-quarter of all time-loss claims due to work accidents are for back injuries. This article traces the pattern of growth in back-injury claims accepted by Workers' Compensation Boards during the last decade.

Description:

Alcohol and drug abuse is one of the most important social issues in Canada today. Using results from the National Alcohol and Drug Survey, this article profiles the extent of alcohol and illegal drug use of Canadians by level of education, income and occupation.

Description:

There were nearly 400,000 disabled workers in Canada in 1986 - less than a third of working age Canadians with a disability. What are the characteristics of disabled workers? This study compares disabled workers with the non-disabled in the work force and with disabled persons outside of the work force.

Description: This survey was conducted to collect accident information in Canada.

Description:

This table contains 41216 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 (14 items: Canada; Newfoundland and Labrador; Prince Edward Island; Nova Scotia ...) Off-reserve Aboriginal profile (4 items: Total off-reserve population; Non-Aboriginal; Aboriginal; not stated; Aboriginal ...) Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Males; Females ...) Health profile (32 items: Very good or excellent self-rated health; Very good or excellent self-rated mental health; Overweight; self-reported adult body mass index 25.00 to 29.99 (18 years and over); Obese; self-reported adult body mass index 30.00 or higher (18 years and over) ...) 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 2016 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; Prince Edward Island; Nova Scotia ...) Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Females; Males ...) Contact with telephone health line (4 items: Total population for the variable contact with telephone health line; Contact with telephone health line in past 12 months; not stated; Contact with telephone health line in past 12 months; No contact with telephone health line in past 12 months ...) Characteristics (12 items: Number of persons; High 95% confidence interval; number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval; number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons ...).

Description:

This table contains 1512 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; Prince Edward Island; Nova Scotia; Newfoundland and Labrador ...) Sex (3 items: Both sexes; Females; Males ...) Patient satisfaction, telephone health line services (3 items: Used telephone health line services in 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 (12 items: Number of persons; High 95% confidence interval; number of persons; Low 95% confidence interval; number of persons; Coefficient of variation for number of persons ...).

Description: This table contains 84 series, with data for years 2002 - 2002 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years), and was last released on 2010-03-30. This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (1 items: Canada ...) Sex (2 items: Males; Females ...) Age group (3 items: 11 years; 13 years; 15 years ...) Student response (14 items: White; Chinese; South Asian; Black ...).

Description: This table contains 816 series, with data for years 2002 - 2002 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years), and was last released on 2010-03-30. This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (34 items: Austria; Belgium (Flemish speaking); Canada; Belgium (French speaking) ...) Sex (2 items: Males; Females ...) Age group (3 items: 11 years; 15 years; 13 years ...) Student response (4 items: Excellent; Good; Fair; Poor ...).

Description: This table contains 2160 series, with data for years 2002 - 2002 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years), and was last released on 2010-03-30. This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (9 items: Belgium (French speaking); Canada ...) Sex (2 items: Males; Females ...) Age group (3 items: 11 years; 13 years; 15 years ...) Symptoms (8 items: Headache; Backache; Feeling low (depressed); Stomach ache ...).

Description: This table contains 180 series, with data for years 2002 - 2002 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years), and was last released on 2010-03-30. This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (1 items: Canada ...) Sex (2 items: Males; Females ...) Age group (3 items: 11 years; 13 years; 15 years ...) Symptoms (6 items: Cough; Headache; Stomach ache; Cold ...) Student response (5 items: About every day; About every week; About every month; More than once a week ...) Student response (5 items: About every day; More than once a week; About every month; About every week ...).

Description: This table contains 1836 series, with data for years 2002 - 2002 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years), and was last released on 2010-03-30. This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (9 items: Belgium (French speaking); Canada ...) Sex (2 items: Males; Females ...) Age group (3 items: 11 years; 15 years; 13 years ...) Activity (2 items: Watching television; Using a computer ...) Period of the week (2 items: Weekdays; Weekend ...) Student response (9 items: None at all; About 1 hour; About 2 hours; About half an hour ...).

Description: This table contains 3672 series, with data for years 2002 - 2002 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years), and was last released on 2010-03-30. This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (34 items: Austria; Canada; Belgium (French speaking); Belgium (Flemish speaking) ...) Sex (2 items: Males; Females ...) Age group (3 items: 11 years; 15 years; 13 years ...) Period of the week (2 items: Weekdays; Weekend ...) Student response (9 items: None at all; About 1 hour; About 2 hours; About half an hour ...).

Description: This table contains 468 series, with data for years 2002 - 2002 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years), and was last released on 2010-03-30. This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (14 items: Belgium (Flemish speaking); Canada; Denmark ...) Sex (2 items: Males; Females ...) Age group (3 items: 11 years; 13 years; 15 years ...) Student response (6 items: None at all; 3 or 4 days a week; 1 or 2 days a week; Less than one day a week ...).

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:

The period between fiscal years 1986/87 and 1994/95 has seen a reduction in the number of hospitals in Canada and fundamental changes in the way they deliver their services. During this time, the number of public hospitals fell by 14%, and the number of approved beds in these hospitals declined by 11%. As a result, the number of staffed beds per 1,000 population dropped from 6.6 to 4.1. Much of the decrease in approved beds in public hospitals can be attributed to the reduction in the hospital extended care sector. In fact, some hospitals with long-term care units have been re-designated residential care facilities. As well, a common trend emerged in all categories of public hospitals: the number of outpatient visits increased, while inpatient-days decreased. Between 1986/87 and 1991/92, public hospitals' average annual increase in operating expenses (in current dollars) was 8%. However, from 1991/92 to 1994/95, public hospitals posted negative average annual growth in their expenditures (-2.4%), which reflects efforts made by various provinces to control hospital costs. This article presents data from reports compiled by Statistics Canada: Annual Return of Health Care Facilities - Hospitals, 1986/87 to 1993/94 and Preliminary Annual Report of Hospitals, 1994/95.

Description:

In 1997, there will be an estimated 130,800 new cases of cancer and 60,700 deaths from the disease, an increase of one third and one quarter, respectively, over 1987. These increases are due mainly to the growth and aging of the population. (All figures exclude non-melanoma skin cancer.) In 1997, three types of cancer will account for at least half of all new cases in men and women: prostate, lung and colorectal cancer for men; breast, lung and colorectal cancer for women. Lung cancer will be the leading cause of cancer death in 1997, resulting in one-third of cancer deaths for men and almost one-quarter of cancer deaths for women. Among women, overall trends in age-standardized rates of cancer incidence and mortality have remained relatively stable since 1985, as large increases in the rate of lung cancer have been offset by declining or stable rates for most other forms. Among men, the overall incidence rate is rising slightly as a result of the sharp increase in the incidence of prostate cancer. The mortality rate for men peaked in 1988 and has since declined, because of decreases in the rates for lung, colorectal and some other cancers. This article presents information on trends since the mid-1980s in cancer incidence and mortality, adapted from Canadian Cancer Statistics 1987.

Description:

The prevalence of dementia increases sharply in old age and is higher among women than men. Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, affects a greater proportion of women. On average, the number of years lived with dementia is longer for women, and women with dementia are more likely to be living in institutions than men with the condition. This article examines age-standardized rates of dementia among men and women aged 65 and over. The data are from the 1991 Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA), a joint effort of the Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine at the University of Ottawa and the federal government's Laboratory Centre for Disease Control. Life expectancy estimates from Statistics Canada were combined with CSHA data to estimate the average proportions of life that are lived with and without dementia, in the community and in institutions.

Description: As of the 1994/95 data year, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) assumed the data collection and dissemination responsibilities for Mental Health Statistics. Public enquiries about Mental Health Statistics should be directed to CIHI at mentalhealth@cihi.ca. The annual information presently collected by this program provides data on separation (discharges) from psychiatric hospitals and general hospitals for inpatients being treated for mental disorders.

Description: The Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR) is a population based registry that includes data collected and reported to Statistics Canada (StatCan) by each provincial/territorial cancer registry (PTCR). The person based CCR collects information about each new primary cancer diagnosed among Canadian residents since 1992. The objective is to produce standardized and comparable incidence data that can be used to assist and support health planners and decision-makers to: identify risk factors; plan, monitor and evaluate cancer screening, treatment and control programs; and conduct research.

Description: Note: Since the 1995-96 data year, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) assumed the responsibility for data collection, processing and for the production and custody of the clean data files. A clean analysis file is provided to Health Statistics Division, Statistics Canada for data analysis. This annual survey provides detailed statistics on finances, services and utilization of Canadian hospitals.

Description: The purpose of the Therapeutic Abortion Survey is to provide some basic indicators (for example, counts and rates) on induced abortions. Information from this database is also used in the calculation of pregnancy statistics, especially for teen pregnancies.

Description: This survey collects the financial and operating data needed to develop national and regional economic policies and programs.

Description: This survey provides data on the lifestyle and health of Canadians, complementing existing administrative data bases.

Description: This survey was designed to collect information on the health of the Canadian population and related socio-demographic information.

Description: The central objective of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) is to gather health-related data at the sub-provincial levels of geography (health region or combined health regions).

Description: This is an administrative survey that collects demographic information annually from all provincial and territorial vital statistics registries on all live births in Canada. 2017 birth and stillbirth data for Yukon are not available. Due to improvements in methodology and timeliness, the duration of data collection has been shortened compared to previous years. As a result, there may have been fewer births and stillbirths captured by the time of the release. The 2017 data are therefore considered preliminary.

Description: This is an administrative survey that collects demographic and medical (cause of death) information annually from all provincial and territorial vital statistics registries on all deaths in Canada.