Abstract

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The Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohorts (CanCHECs) are population-based linked datasets of the household population at the time of census collection. The CanCHECs combine data from respondents to the long-form census or the National Household Survey between 1991 and 2011 with administrative health data (e.g., mortality, cancer incidence, hospitalizations, emergency ambulatory care) and annual mailing address postal codes. The CanCHEC datasets are rich national data resources that can be used to measure and examine health inequalities across socioeconomic and ethnocultural dimensions for different periods and locations. These datasets can also be used to examine the effects of exposure to environmental factors on human health. Because of their large size, the CanCHECs are an excellent resource for examining rare health outcomes and small population groups. They are ideally suited for environmental health research because of their geographic coverage across all regions of Canada, their long follow-up periods and their linkage to annual postal code history.

Keywords

cohort studies, Canada, mortality, neoplasms, hospitalization, linked health data, census

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.25318/82-003-x201901200003-eng

Findings

The reduction and elimination of health inequalities is an ongoing goal of health policy in Canada. To support and inform progress toward this goal, a sample of 1991 Census respondents and 10 years of mortality data were linked in 2008. This dataset was then used to determine the distribution of mortality outcomes across groups defined by income, education, occupation, marital status, language, ethnicity, immigration status, Indigenous identity and disability status. In 2009, approval was granted to add more years of mortality follow-up, and to include cancer incidence data and annual place of residence data. The primary purpose of this expanded dataset was to assess the impact of long-term exposure to air pollution on human health, with the objective to inform the development of Canada-wide standards for key criteria pollutants. In subsequent years, a 2001 Census linked dataset and a 1996 Census linked dataset were created and branded as the Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohorts (CanCHECs). [Full article]

Authors

Michael Tjepkema (michael.tjepkema@canada.ca), Tanya Christidis, Tracey Bushnik and Lauren Pinault are with the Health Analysis Division at Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.