Health Reports
A Canadian peer-reviewed journal of population health and health services research
March 2021
Prescription medication use among Canadian children and youth, 2012 to 2017
by Jennifer Servais, Pamela L. Ramage-Morin, Julia Gal and Craig M. Hales
In 2002, the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada reported on the growing importance and costs of drugs in the Canadian health care system. At that time, prescribed drug expenditures totalled $14.8 billion and represented 12.8% of total health spending. By 2019, prescribed drug expenditures were projected to be more than double ($34.3 billion), accounting for 13.0% of health care spending in Canada and surpassed only by those associated with hospitals (26.6%) and physicians (15.1%). Prescribed drugs were projected to make up 85.1% of all drug expenditures, with non-prescribed drugs comprising the remaining 14.9%. An international comparison revealed that Canada’s per capita drug expenses were high among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. For example, in 2016, drug expenses averaged $1,043 per person in Canada, placing it in third place behind the United States ($1,470) and Switzerland ($1,353).
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Health care access and use among male and female Canadian Armed Forces veterans
by Mary Beth MacLean, Jill Sweet, Alyson Mahar, Sarah Gould, and Amy L. Hall
Access to health care is an important aspect of supporting health, as well as of preventing work-related disability.Veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces have been found to have a higher prevalence of many health conditions and self-reported disability, compared with the Canadian general population. For example, previous comparisons of veterans and the Canadian general population using the Life After Service Survey and the Canadian Community Health Survey have indicated that Regular Force veterans have higher rates of chronic physical health problems than the Canadian general population, including back pain, hearing loss and arthritis. Mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, have also been found to be more prevalent in veterans when comparing these two data sources. Disability rates among veterans are almost three times those of the Canadian general population; similarly, work-related disability is also more common among veterans than the general population.
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Health care access and use among male and female Canadian Armed Forces veterans
- VanTil LD, MacLean MB, Poirier A, McKinnon K. Understanding future needs of Canadian veterans. Health Reports 2018; 29(11): 20-25.
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