SUDBURY DISTRICT—The Sudbury and District Health Unit (SDHU) released information last week on the health status of people living in its service area and concludes that the two leading causes of death in the catchment area include ischemic heart disease (heart attacks) and lung cancer. The SDHU population health profile is based on an analysis of the most currently available data sources, covering topics such as mortality rates, leading causes of death, health care utilization, cardiovascular disease, cancer and health behaviors.
“Under the Ontario Public Health Standards (Ministry of Health and Long Term-Care), all Ontario boards of health are required to report regularly on the health of the population,” said Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, Sudbury and District medical officer of health. “This information helps to better understand our community’s health so that we can work together with our partners to plan programs and services that best meet the community’s needs and context. This information also helps us advocate for and build social, economic and environmental policies that will better support health.”
Marc Lefebvre, manager of population health assessment and surveillance for the SDHU, told the Sudbury Star in its January 23 edition that the document will be used for the unit’s planning and programming and by people who may wish to improve their own health or advocate for change to help others.
The report shows the two leading causes of death in the health unit catchment area are ischemic heart disease (heart attacks) and lung cancer, with the number of people suffering from those illnesses being of a higher rate than the rest of Ontario. The report indicates that 25 percent of adults are smokers and 24 percent are heavy drinkers and that 60 percent of people living in the area rate their own health as excellent or very good.
Mr. Lefebvre told the Star that the strength of the report is that it provides recent data on the health status of people in the health unit area and how we compare with the rest of Northeastern Ontario and the rest of the province. He hopes that helps drive change, both for those that can make changes in their own lives, or by advocating for changes for those who can’t advocate for themselves. The health unit’s partners and community members may use the evidence in the report to back health initiatives or to apply for grants.
The health profile includes comparisons between the health unit’s service area, Northeastern Ontario, and presents differences categorized by demographic characteristics such as sex and age. Some highlights also include: the age-standardized rate of ischemic heart disease declined over the past 10 years, but in comparison to provincial rates, people in the health unit’s service area have higher rates of cardiovascular disease and some cancers. These findings are consistent across Northeastern Ontario; rates of avoidable mortality, cardiovascular disease and cancer are higher among males than females and in general increase with age.
The report explains that 32 percent of the population in the health unit’s service area are physically active and that those rates are similar to the rest of the province. An estimated 25 percent of adults are current smokers and 24 percent of people report being heavy drinkers. For these two behaviours, there are currently no difference between the health unit’s service area and the rest of Northeastern Ontario; but they are higher than the overall provincial rates.
“As public health professionals, we commit ourselves to developing a better understanding of the complex inter-relationship between the factors that influence and determine health,” said Renee St. Onge, director of the health unit’s Resources, Research, Evaluation and Development Division. “A person’s opportunities to achieve health are affected by many factors, many of which are well outside of their individual control. Measuring the health status of our population is an important step to understanding those complex relationships and improving health.”
Further work is ongoing to explore these relationships and will be the subject of separate analysis, building on previous work from the SDHU’s 2013 Opportunities for All report. Future additions to this profile will also include sections on communicable diseases, injuries, mental health, reproductive outcomes and other non-communicable diseases such as asthma and diabetes.
Measuring the health status of a population is one of the first steps to improving it, the report states. It shows people living in the health unit’s area are generally healthy and that many indicators are consistent with trends in Ontario and elsewhere.
Rates of hospitalization and emergency department visits are lower in the SDHU area, which includes Greater Sudbury and the districts of Sudbury and Manitoulin, than in the rest of northeastern Ontario, but higher than in the rest of the province.
The avoidable mortality rates put some of those poor health behaviours in perspective. In the health unit area there were 773 avoidable deaths in 2011, similar to the Northeast and higher than the rest of Ontario the report shows. Lifestyle changes such as reducing smoking or excessive alcohol consumption, or by public health interventions such as vaccinations and injury prevention programs, could bring that number down.
However, the mortality rate in the area decreased from 2002 to 2011. From 2002 to 2011, on average, 527 people died of cancer and 329 people of ischemic heart disease each year.
The SDHU does not follow the trend in one area. Deaths from cancer are higher in Ontario than in this area although the percentage of deaths from ischemic heart disease is higher.
