Abstract
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Background
Keywords
Findings
Author
What is already known on this subject?
What does this study add?
Background
Few national studies of hospitalizations due to injuries among the First Nations population have been conducted.
Data and methods
Based on 2004/2005 to 2009/2010 data from the Discharge Abstract Database, this study examines associations between unintentional injury hospitalizations, socio-economic status and location relative to an urban core in Dissemination Areas (DAs) with a high percentage of First Nations identity residents versus a low percentage of Aboriginal identity residents.
Results
Unintentional injury hospitalization rates were higher in the less affluent and the most remote DAs. When DAs with the same socio-economic status and location were compared, the risk of hospitalizations was greater in high-percentage First Nations identity DAs relative to low-percentage Aboriginal identity DAs.
Interpretation
Socio-economic conditions and remote location accounted for some, but not all, of the differences in unintentional injury hospitalizations between high-percentage First Nations identity and low-percentage Aboriginal identity DAs. This suggests that characteristics not measured in this analysis—such as environmental, behavioural of other factors—play an additional role in DA-level unintentional injury hospitalization risk.
Keywords
Aboriginal, hospital records, wounds
Findings
Injuries are a leading cause of death among the First Nations population in Canada and have been identified as a serious public health issue in terms of health care costs and diminished quality of life. [Full Text]
Author
Evelyne Bougie (1-613-951-4765; Evelyne.Bougie@statcan.gc.ca), Philippe Finès, Lisa N. Oliver, and Dafna E. Kohen are with the Health Analysis Division at Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0T6.
What is already known on this subject?
- Previous research has shown rates of hospitalization for unintentional injury to be higher in areas with a relatively large percentage of Aboriginal (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) identity residents, compared with areas with a relatively low percentage of Aboriginal identity residents.
- Few previous area-based studies investigated the role of factors such as SES or remote location that may help explain the elevated injury hospitalization rates in high-percentage Aboriginal identity areas.
What does this study add?
- Unintentional injury hospitalization rates were, on average, higher in neighbourhoods with lower SES and in the most remote neighbourhoods. This was true in high-percentage First Nations identity and low-percentage Aboriginal identity areas.
- When neighbourhoods with the same SES and location relative to an urban core were compared, the risk of hospitalization due to unintentional injury tended to be greater in high-percentage First Nations identity areas than in low-percentage Aboriginal identity areas.
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