Archived - Health indicators, two-year period estimates, census metropolitan areas^{1, 2}

Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). The table 13-10-0464-01 is an update of the table 13-10-0669-01.

Due to changes in content and methodology, this table will now only be made available for historical revisions. In place of this table, please consult table 13-10-0805-01. As a result of the changes, users should use caution when comparing data in this table with the data in 13-10-0805-01.

A census metropolitan area (CMA) is an area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core. To form a CMA, the urban core must have a population of at least 100,000. Beginning in 2013/2014, the CMAs are defined by the 2011 Census. To form a census agglomeration, the urban core must have a population of at least 10,000.

The metropolitan influenced zone (MIZ) classification is an approach to better differentiate areas of Canada outside of census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations. Census subdivisions that lie outside these areas are classified into one of four zones of influence. They are assigned to categories based on the flow of residents travelling to work in an urban area with a population greater than 10,000. Municipalities where more than 30% of the residents commute to work in an urban core are assigned to the strong MIZ category. Municipalities where between 5% and 30% of the residents commute to work in an urban core are assigned to the moderate MIZ category. Municipalities where between 0% and 5% of the residents commute to work in an urban core are assigned to the weak MIZ category. Municipalities where fewer than 40 or none of the residents commute to work in an urban core are assigned to the zero MIZ category.

The confidence interval illustrates the degree of variability associated with a rate. Wide confidence intervals indicate high variability, thus, these rates should be interpreted with due caution. When comparing estimates, it is important to use confidence intervals to determine if differences between values are statistically significant.

Bootstrapping techniques were used to produce the 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Data with a coefficient of variation (CV) from 16.6% to 33.3% are identified as follows: (E) use with caution.

Data with a coefficient of variation (CV) greater than 33.3% were suppressed due to extreme sampling variability and are identified as follows: (F) too unreliable to be published.

The following standard symbols are used in this Statistics Canada table: (..) for figures not available for a specific reference period and (...) for figures not applicable.

Percentages are rounded to the nearest tenth. Numbers are rounded to the nearest unit.

Population aged 12 and over who reported perceiving their own health status as being either excellent or very good or fair or poor, depending on the indicator. Perceived health refers to the perception of a person's health in general, either by the person himself or herself, or, in the case of proxy response, by the person responding. Health means not only the absence of disease or injury but also physical, mental and social well being.

Population aged 12 and over who reported perceiving their own mental health status as being excellent or very good or fair or poor, depending on the indicator. Perceived mental health refers to the perception of a person's mental health in general. Perceived mental health provides a general indication of the population suffering from some form of mental disorder, mental or emotional problems, or distress, not necessarily reflected in perceived health.

Population aged 12 and over who reported being satisfied or very satisfied with their life in general.

Population aged 15 and over who reported perceiving that most days in their life were quite a bit or extremely stressful. Perceived life stress refers to the amount of stress in the person's life, on most days, as perceived by the person or, in the case of proxy response, by the person responding.

Population aged 12 and over who reported that they have been diagnosed by a health professional as having a mood disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, mania or dysthymia.

Population aged 15 and over who reported that they have been diagnosed by a health professional as having arthritis. Arthritis includes rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, but excludes fibromyalgia. In the 2011 French questionnaire, the word "arthrose" was added to the arthritis question as respondents tend to associate the word "arthrite" with rheumatoid arthritis and "arthrose" with degenerative arthritis. This lead to an increase in reported arthritis for 2011. However, the word "arthrose" was then omitted from the question in 2012, leading to a decrease in the reported arthritis estimates for the province of Quebec and subsequently at the national level. Therefore, the data for the arthritis indicator in 2011 should be used with caution.

Population aged 12 and over who reported that they have been diagnosed by a health professional as having Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes includes females 15 and over who reported that they have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes.

Population aged 12 and over who reported that they have been diagnosed by a health professional as having asthma.

Population aged 12 and over who reported that they have been diagnosed by a health professional as having high blood pressure.

Population aged 35 and over who reported being diagnosed by a health professional with chronic bronchitis, emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Population aged 12 and over who reported that they usually have pain or discomfort.

Population aged 12 and over who reported having pain or discomfort that prevents activities.

Population aged 12 and over who reported being limited in selected activities (home, school, work and other activities) because of a physical condition, mental condition or health problem which has lasted or is expected to last 6 months or longer.

Population aged 12 and over reporting measures of overall functional health, based on 8 dimensions of functioning (vision, hearing, speech, mobility, dexterity, feelings, cognition and pain). The Health Utility Index (HUI), developed at McMaster University's Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, is based on the Comprehensive Health Status Measurement System (CHSMS). Scores between 0.8 and 1.0 are considered to indicate good to full functional health; scores below 0.8 are considered to indicate moderate to poor functional health.

Population aged 12 and over who reported being a current smoker. Daily smoker refers to those who reported smoking cigarettes every day. Occasional smoker refers to those who reported smoking cigarettes occasionally. This includes former daily smokers who now smoke occasionally. Does not take into account the number of cigarettes smoked. Data collected for this indicator is based on the question referring to smoking of cigarettes only. Note that data on smoking alternative tobacco products is captured in a different module (TAL).

Statistics Canada has two main surveys that produce National and Provincial smoking rates. The Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), and the Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CTADS), which replaces the Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS) beginning in 2013. Users should be aware of a number of differences between CCHS and CTADS. CCHS collects information from respondents aged 12 and over, CTADS collects information from respondents aged 15 and over; the two surveys use different sampling frames; the annual sample for CTADS is 20,000 compared to 65,000 for CCHS; in CCHS, smoking questions are asked in the context of a wide range of health-related behaviours whereas in CTADS, all questions are related to the use of multiple products and substances with addictive properties. Although these factors can influence the estimates produced at a single point in time, the trends produced by the two surveys have been noted to be very consistent over time. Rather than comparing smoking rates produced from the two surveys, Statistics Canada advises users to choose a single source, based on their objectives, and to use that source consistently.

Non-smoking population aged 12 and over who reported that at least one person smoked inside their home every day or almost every day. Smoking inside the home excludes smoking inside the garage, whether attached or detached.

Non-smoking population aged 12 and over who reported being exposed to second-hand smoke in private vehicles and/or public places on every day or almost every day in the past month.

Population aged 12 and over who reported having 5 or more drinks on one occasion, at least once a month in the past year. Starting in 2009, the denominator includes all respondents aged 12 and over. This change applies to rates from all years in this table. In data released before 2009, the denominator included only those respondents who reported having had at least one drink in the past 12 months. Increasing the population in the denominator reduces the estimate rates. This change was implemented to produce more comparable rates over time and is more consistent with methods used in calculating other indicators in this table.

A definition change was implemented in 2013 to conform with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Canada guidelines for Heavy drinking. Heavy drinking refers to males who reported having 5 or more drinks, or women who reported having 4 or more drinks, on one occasion, at least once a month in the past year. While this indicator remains comparable for males to the 5 or more drinks indicator published in previous years, it is no longer comparable for females.

Indicates the usual number of times (frequency) per day a person reported eating fruits and vegetables. Measure does not take into account the amount consumed.

Population aged 12 and over who reported the nature, frequency and duration of their participation in leisure-time physical activity. Respondents are classified as active, moderately active or inactive based on an index of average daily physical activity over the past 3 months. For each leisure time physical activity the respondent is engaged in, an average daily energy expenditure is calculated by multiplying the number of times the activity was performed by the average duration of the activity by the energy cost (kilocalories per kilogram of body weight per hour) of the activity. The index is calculated as the sum of the average daily energy expenditures of all activities. Respondents are classified as follows: 3.0 kcal/kg/day or more = physically active; 1.5 to 2.9 kcal/kg/day = moderately active; less than 1.5 kcal/kg/day = inactive.

Body mass index (BMI) is a method of classifying body weight according to health risk. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Canada guidelines, health risk levels are associated with each of the following BMI categories: normal weight = least health risk; underweight and overweight = increased health risk; obese, class I = high health risk; obese, class II = very high health risk; obese, class III = extremely high health risk. Body mass index (BMI) is calculated by dividing the respondent's body weight (in kilograms) by their height (in metres) squared. The index for body weight classification is: less than 18.50 (underweight); 18.50 to 24.99 (normal weight); 25.00 to 29.99 (overweight); 30.00 to 34.99 (obese, class I); 35.00 to 39.99 (obese, class II); 40.00 or greater (obese, class III).

To conform with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Canada guidelines for body weight classification the index is calculated for the population aged 18 and over, excluding pregnant females and persons less than 3 feet (0.914 metres) tall or greater than 6 feet 11 inches (2.108 metres).

Body mass index (BMI) for youths is different from that of adults as they are still maturing. This indicator classifies respondents aged 12 to 17 (except female respondents aged 15 to 17 who were pregnant or did not answer the pregnancy question) as "obese" or "overweight" according to the age- and sex-specific BMI cut-off points as defined by Cole and others. The Cole cut-off points have been applied to the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) since 2005 and are based on pooled international data (Brazil, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Singapore and United States) for BMI and linked to the internationally accepted adult BMI cut-off points of 25 (overweight) and 30 (obese).

Population aged 12 and over who reported their sense of belonging to their local community as being very strong or somewhat strong. Research shows a high correlation of sense of community-belonging with physical and mental health.

Population aged 12 and over who reported that they have a regular medical doctor.

Population aged 12 and over who reported having consulted with a medical doctor in the past 12 months. Medical doctor includes family or general practitioners as well as specialists such as surgeons, allergists, orthopaedists, gynaecologists or psychiatrists. For population aged 12 to 17, includes pediatricians.

Population aged 12 and over who reported when they had their last influenza immunization (flu shot).

The 2009 data on flu shots may include H1N1 vaccines received in the Fall of 2009. In 2010, the word "seasonal" was added to the questions in order to collect the two types of vaccines separately. After 2010, the separate module on H1N1 vaccines is not asked as the H1N1 flu shot is now given in combination with the seasonal flu vaccine .

Population aged 12 and over who reported that they always wore a helmet when riding a bicycle in the last 12 months.

Respondents aged 12 and over who sustained injuries in the past 12 months which were serious enough to limit normal activities. For those with more than one injury in the past 12 months, refers to "the most serious injury", as identified by the respondent. Repetitive strain injuries are not included.

Population aged 12 and over who sustained injuries in the past 12 months and who sought medical attention from a health professional in the 48 hours following the injury.