Nutrition inequities in Canada

2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Tarasuk ◽  
Sandra Fitzpatrick ◽  
Heather Ward

In Canada, increased morbidity and shorter life expectancy have been found among those with lower incomes and lower levels of education, but there has been little examination of socioeconomic variation in food and nutrient intake. Using data from the 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey, we examined the relationship between household income and education level and adults’ and children’s intakes of energy, fibre, micronutrients, and number of servings consumed of food groups from Canada’s Food Guide. To explore the public health significance of observed associations, we estimated the prevalence of inadequacy for selected nutrients for adults, stratifying by household income, education level, and sex. We found that a higher household income adequacy and (or) higher levels of education were associated with increased consumption of milk and alternatives, and vegetables and fruit, and significantly higher vitamin, mineral, and fibre intakes among both adults and children. The prevalence of inadequate nutrient intakes among adults was higher among adults with the lowest level of income adequacy or educational attainment, compared with others. Our results suggest that the nutritional quality of Canadians’ food intakes is, in part, a function of their social position. The impact of policy and program interventions needs to be examined across socioeconomic strata to ensure that actions reduce rather than exacerbate nutrition inequities.

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 281-288
Author(s):  
Mélanie Varin ◽  
Melissa Baker ◽  
Elia Palladino ◽  
Tanya Lary

The 2019 edition of the Canadian Chronic Disease Indicators (CCDI) provides recent estimates of the burden of chronic conditions and measures of general health and associated determinants in Canada. Using data from the CCDI and 2017 Canadian Community Health Survey, we explored the relationship between sociodemographic factors and selfreported mental health. Our findings suggest that sex (males vs females: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.22); age (65–79 vs 35–49 year age group: aOR = 1.48); education (postsecondary graduate vs less than high school: aOR = 1.68); household income adequacy (highest quintile [Q5] vs lowest [Q1]: aOR = 2.25); and immigrant status (recent immigrants vs nonimmigrants: aOR= 2.29) were significantly associated with higher self-reported mental health.


JEJAK ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-223
Author(s):  
Endiarjati Dewandaru Sadono

Beras untuk Keluarga Miskin (RASKIN) program has been applied since 1998 and has been renamed as Beras Sejahtera (RASTRA) in early 2017, but their effectiveness is still debatable. This study tries to evaluate the impact of RASKIN program on household income. Using data from 3,745 households in Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS) 5 that has been estimated using propensity score matching, this study has identified precisely that RASKIN program has a negative and significant effect on household income. This happens because the benefits that reveived by Rumah Tangga Sasaran (RTS) are very small. The small benefit is affected by the amount of rice received, frequency and price that have been paid to get RASKIN is not in accordance with the guidelines. The result of this study is along with previous studies, where the amount and price of rice that distributed through RASKIN program is not exactly correct. Therefore, there must be a change in program format, not just renaming from RASKIN to RASTRA only.


Stroke ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Azizi ◽  
Pouria Alipour ◽  
Michael Rotondi ◽  
Chris I Ardern

Background: The increasing rate of stroke and its consequent disabilities has contributed to a growing proportion of stroke survivors requiring rehabilitation. Further research is needed to understand the provision of rehabilitation in the community settings and relationship between variance in stroke care and patient outcomes. Hypothesis: To investigate the association between rehabilitation and functional outcomes of stroke survivors. Method: Data for this analysis was derived from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) (merged cycles 2013-2016: 237,121 participants). Participants reporting complications from stroke were selected to assess the effect of physiotherapy (PT) and other allied health (AH) utilization. Primary endpoints included need for assistance in activity of daily living (ADL) and injury due to fall in the past 12 months (Inj-Fall). All statistical analyses were performed using R (V.4.0.2) and survey design. Results: Overall, 3,773 (1.1%) patients with stroke (47% females, 71.1% older than 60 years) were studied. Total of 0.2% and 1.6% of stroke survivors in 2013-14 had consulted PT and AH compared to 9.1% and 21% in 2015-16, respectively. Consequently, the rate of need for ADL and Inj-Fall were significantly greater in 2013-14. In general, age was a significant predictor of low accessibility to PT (OR=0.66(0.51-0.85)) or AH (OR=0.79(0.66-0.93)) whereas no significant association between sex and access to PT or AH (P=0.1). As expected, higher income was associated with greater PT utilization (OR=2.11(1.1-4.2)). Finally, PT or AH consultations were significantly associated with less need for assistance in ADL and lower Inj-Fall (Table1). Conclusion: Results of this study reinforce the beneficial effect of rehabilitation on ADL and injury in stroke survivors. Future longitudinal work is necessary to understand directionality of the relationship, and the impact of healthcare access, within varied healthcare systems and models of health .


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hung Van Vu

Using data from the 2018 Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey, our study investigates the impact of education on household income in rural Vietnam. Both mean and quantile regression analyses were employed to analyze the impact of education. We found that education has a positive effect on the household income after controlling for various factors in the models. However, quantile regression analysis reveals that the effect of schooling years increases with quantiles, suggesting that education bring higher returns for richer households. We also found that households with the heads having higher qualifications or vocational education tend to earn higher income levels. Combined together, these findings imply that while education was found to increase household income, it increases income inequality in rural Vietnam. Our research findings suggest that improving the access of poor households to better education is expected to increase their income and reduce inequality in rural Vietnam.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidia Loukine ◽  
Chris Waters ◽  
Bernard C. K. Choi ◽  
Joellyn Ellison

Hypertension can lead to cardiovascular diseases and other chronic conditions. While the impact of hypertension on premature death and life expectancy has been published, the impact on health-adjusted life expectancy has not, and constitutes the research objective of this study. Health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) is the number of expected years of life equivalent to years lived in full health. Data were obtained from the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System (mortality data 2004–2006) and the Canadian Community Health Survey (Health Utilities Index data 2000–2005) for people with and without hypertension. Life table analysis was applied to calculate life expectancy and health-adjusted life expectancy and their confidence intervals. Our results show that for Canadians 20 years of age, without hypertension, life expectancy is 65.4 years and 61.0 years, for females and males, respectively. HALE is 55.0 years and 52.8 years for the two sexes at age 20; and 24.7 years and 22.9 years at age 55. For Canadians with hypertension, HALE is only 48.9 years and 47.1 years for the two sexes at age 20; and 22.7 years and 20.2 years at age 55. Hypertension is associated with a significant loss in health-adjusted life expectancy compared to life expectancy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Gagné ◽  
Gerry Veenstra

<p>A growing body of research from the United States informed by intersectionality theory indicates that racial identity, gender, and income are often entwined with one another as determinants of health in unexpectedly complex ways. Research of this kind from Canada is scarce, however. Using data pooled from ten cycles (2001- 2013) of the Canadian Community Health Survey, we regressed hypertension (HT) and diabetes (DM) on income in subsamples of Black women (n = 3,506), White women (n = 336,341), Black men (n = 2,806) and White men (n = 271,260). An increase of one decile in income was associated with lower odds of hypertension and diabetes among White men (ORHT = .98, 95% CI (.97, .99); ORDM = .93, 95% CI (.92, .94)) and White women (ORHT = .95, 95% CI (.95, .96); ORDM = .90, 95% CI (.89, .91)). In contrast, an increase of one decile in income was not associated with either health outcome among Black men (ORHT = .99, 95% CI (.92, 1.06); ORDM = .99, 95% CI (.91, 1.08)) and strongly associated with both outcomes among Black women (ORHT = .86, 95% CI (.80, .92); ORDM = .83, 95% CI (.75, .92)). Our findings highlight the complexity of the unequal distribution of hypertension and diabetes, which includes inordinately high risks of both outcomes for poor Black women and an absence of associations between income and both outcomes for Black men in Canada. These results suggest that an intersectionality framework can contribute to uncovering health inequalities in Canada.</p><p><em>Ethn Dis.</em>2017;27(4):371-378; doi:10.18865/ ed.27.4.371. </p>


2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. e001056
Author(s):  
Keir Elmslie James Philip ◽  
Sara Buttery ◽  
Parris Williams ◽  
Bavithra Vijayakumar ◽  
James Tonkin ◽  
...  

IntroductionThe impact of acute COVID-19 on people with asthma appears complex, being moderated by multiple interacting disease-specific, demographic and environmental factors. Research regarding longer-term effects in this group is limited. We aimed to assess impacts of COVID-19 and predictors of persistent symptoms, in people with asthma.MethodsUsing data from an online UK-wide survey of 4500 people with asthma (median age 50–59 years, 81% female), conducted in October 2020, we undertook a mixed methods analysis of the characteristics and experience of those reporting having had COVID-19.ResultsThe COVID-19 group (n=471, 10.5%) reported increased inhaler use and worse asthma management, compared with those not reporting COVID-19, but did not differ by gender, ethnicity or household income. Among the COVID-19 group, 56.1% reported having long COVID, 20.2% were ‘unsure’. Those with long COVID were more likely than those without long COVID to describe: their breathing as worse or much worse after their initial illness (73.7% vs 34.8%, p<0.001), increased inhaler use (67.8% vs 34.8%, p<0.001) and worse or much worse asthma management (59.6% vs 25.6%, p<0.001). Having long COVID was not associated with age, gender, ethnicity, UK nation or household income.Analysis of free text survey responses identified three key themes: (1) variable COVID-19 severity, duration and recovery; (2) symptom overlap and interaction between COVID-19 and asthma; (3) barriers to accessing healthcare.ConclusionsPersisting symptoms are common in people with asthma following COVID-19. Measures are needed to ensure appropriate healthcare access including clinical evaluation and investigation, to distinguish between COVID-19 symptoms and asthma.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alena (Praneet) Ng ◽  
Mavra Ahmed ◽  
Mary L'Abbe

Abstract Background: Up-to-date and appropriate estimates of the usual intakes of key nutrients are crucial for monitoring the nutritional adequacy of the Canadian population. Comprehensive, nationally-representative nutrient estimates for Canadian children and adolescents are available using data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) – Nutrition 2004, however results are scarce for the most-recent 2015 data. The objective of this research was to assess nutrient intakes of Canadian children and adolescents using data from the CCHS 2015 Public Use Microdata Files (PUMF) Methods: Participants’ first 24-hr dietary recall, and the second-day recall from a subset of participants were used to estimate usual intakes of macronutrients, vitamins and minerals in children and adolescents (2-18 years). Usual intakes by Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) age-sex groups were estimated using the National Cancer Institute (NCI) method, adjusted for age, sex, misreporting status, weekend/weekday, and sequence of recall analyzed (first/second), with consideration for outliers (N=5,493). Usual intakes from food and beverages were assessed for prevalence of inadequacy in relation to the DRI recommendations. Results: Children 2-3y consumed a percentage of total energy from protein above the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range (AMDR). Among children and adolescents, 71% met the AMDR for carbohydrates and 63-71% met the AMDR for total fat. With the exception of calcium and vitamin D, a very low prevalence (<10%) of inadequate intakes was observed for select micronutrients among Canadian children 2-8y, while a substantial proportion of adolescents (>15%) did not meet requirements for vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium and zinc.Conclusions: Canadian children and adolescents may not be meeting recommendations for short fall nutrients such as calcium, potassium, vitamin A and vitamin D. Fibre intake continues to remain low, while sodium intake exceeded recommendations. These findings provide important, updated baseline estimates on the nutrient intakes of this subpopulation in Canada for continued monitoring of adherence to the 2019 Canada’s Food Guide and may be useful to inform future public health nutrition policies, programs and initiatives.


Author(s):  
Khaled Hassan

Background: Although oral health is linked to diabetes, the likelihood of developing acute or chronic diabetic issues as a result of this link remains unknown in Ontario, Canada's most populous province. The impact of self-reported dental health on the chance of developing acute and chronic problems in a group of previously diagnosed diabetics is investigated in this study.  Methodology:  Diabetics (n = 5183) who took part in the Canadian Community Health Survey in 2003 and 2007–08 were studied retrospectively. Until March 31, 2016, self-reported oral health status was connected to health interactions in electronic medical records. After self-reporting oral health status, multinomial regression models were used to assess the likelihood of the first acute or chronic problem. Keywords:  Population health, Acute, Oral health, diabetes complications, periodontal disease, Chronic.


2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 157-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
ML Reitsma ◽  
JE Tranmer ◽  
DM Buchanan ◽  
EG Vandenkerkhof

Introduction Estimates of the prevalence of chronic pain worldwide and in Canada are inconsistent. Our primary objectives were to determine the prevalence of chronic pain by sex and age and to determine the prevalence of pain-related interference for Canadian men and women between 1994 and 2008. Methods Using data from seven cross-sectional cycles in the National Population Health Survey and the Canadian Community Health Survey, we defined two categorical outcomes, chronic pain and pain-related interference with activities. Results Prevalence of chronic pain ranged from 15.1% in 1996/97 to 18.9% in 1994/95. Chronic pain was most prevalent among women (range: 16.5% to 21.5%), and in the oldest (65 years plus) age group (range: 23.9% to 31.3%). Women aged 65 years plus consistently reported the highest prevalence of chronic pain (range: 26.0% to 34.2%). The majority of adult Canadians who reported chronic pain also reported at least a few activities prevented due to this pain (range: 11.4% to 13.3% of the overall population). Conclusion Similar to international estimates, this Canadian population-based study confirms that chronic pain persists and impacts daily activities. Further study with more detailed definitions of pain and pain-related interference is warranted.


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