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More in this Section...

A mother and daughter speaking with a doctor

This section presents information about chronic and infectious disease, as well as self-rated health.

Why is this important?

A person's health can affect all other aspects of their life. Chronic and infectious diseases can impact a person's mental health, quality of life and lead to premature death.[1,2,3,4]

Change in behaviours and habits can be part of preventing and managing disease. Addressing root causes of poor health such as adverse childhood experiences and barriers to the social determinants of health are also important parts of reducing risk for and incidence of disease.[5,6]

Indicators 

Chronic Disease

Chronic diseases are long-term illnesses that do not get better on their own and often get worse over time. Chronic diseases can often be managed, but are rarely cured completely. Early identification can support good treatments that improve people's health and quality of life.[7]

Diabetes, Cancer, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Heart Disease prevalence are captured as part of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). The CCHS uses probability sampling.[10]

Measures

Diabetes Prevalence

This measure presents the proportion of the population, aged 12 and older, that reported they were diabetes-free (all types). Chronic disease information is collected within The Canadian Community Health Survey's (CCHS) core Chronic Conditions module. 

Key Findings

As people age they are more likely to have diabetes. From 2009-2014, the proportion of people reporting they were diabetes-free was similar for Wellington County (including Guelph) and Ontario for all age groups. People 75 years old and older were least likely to report being diabetes-free, followed by people 65-74 years old and 50-64 years old. People 35-49 years old were most likely to be living without diabetes.

 

Loading Chart...

*Wellington County includes Guelph.

Source: Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). Statistics Canada, Annual Content (2009-2014), Ontario Share File distributed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Prepared by: Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.

Limitations

The true prevalence of diabetes may be underestimated, because this measure relies on a diagnosis by a health professional and those with undiagnosed chronic health problems will likely be excluded.[18]

Looking for more information?

Please download the excel file below for:

  • More information about this measure
  • Prevalence of Diabetes-Free from 2007-2014 for Guelph and Wellington
  • Prevalence of Diabetes-Free for Guelph and Wellington, by Sex

Download Full Dataset

Cancer Prevalence

Cancer prevalence is defined within the CCHS, as the proportion of the population, age 12 and older that report having been diagnosed by a health professional as having cancer. 

Key Findings

From 2009-2014, the majority of the population in Guelph, Wellington County and Ontario were living without cancer. People 65 and over were less likely to report living without cancer, than people 64 years old and younger.

 

Loading Chart...

*Wellington County does not include Guelph.

Source: Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). Statistics Canada, Annual Content (2009-2014), Ontario Share File distributed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Prepared by Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.

Limitations

The true prevalence of cancer may be underestimated, because this measure relies on a diagnosis by a health professional and those with undiagnosed cancer will likely be excluded.[18] The measure captures only the proportion of those who were cancer-free at the time of the survey and does not include those who previously had cancer. Since the CCHS samples using cluster sampling, each case is weighted to represent the number of individuals in the total population. Therefore information on the exact number of cases is not made available and the percentages presented above are not based on individual count but the weighted value of each case in the sample.

Looking for more information?

Please download the excel file below for:

  • More information about this measure
  • Prevalence of cancer-free for 2007-2014 for Guelph, Wellington and Ontario

Download Full Dataset

COPD Prevalence

COPD prevelance is defined within the CCHS, as the proportion of the population, age 35 and older, that report having been diagnosed by a health professional as having COPD.[11]

Key Findings

From 2009 to 2014, between 92% and 99% of residents in Guelph, Wellington and Ontario reported living COPD-free. In general, the proportion of the population living without COPD decreased with age. In Wellington County, slightly less people ages 65-74 years old reported living without COPD, when compared to people 75 and over.

 

Loading Chart...

*Wellington County includes Guelph.

Source: Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). Statistics Canada, Annual Content (2009-2014), Ontario Share File distributed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Prepared by Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.

Limitations

The true prevalence of COPD may be underestimated, because this measure relies on a diagnosis by a health professional and those with undiagnosed COPD will likely be excluded.[18]

Looking for more information?

Please download the excel sheet below for more information about this measure.

Download Full Dataset

Heart Disease Prevalence

Heart disease prevalence is defined within the CCHS as the proportion of the population, age 20 and older that report having been diagnosed with heart disease by a health professional .[11] 

Key Findings

In general, as people age heart disease becomes more common. With two exceptions, from 2009-2014 as people aged the proportion of people living without heart disease decreased in Guelph, Wellington and Ontario. In Wellington County, slightly more people 50 to 64 years old reported living without heart disease, than people in the age 35 to 49 age bracket. Likewise, slightly more people ages 75 and over reported living without heart disease than people 65 to 74 years old.

 

Loading Chart...

*Wellington County does not include Guelph.

Source: Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). Statistics Canada, Annual Content (2009-2014), Ontario Share File distributed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Prepared by Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.

Limitations

The true prevalence of heart disease may be underestimated, because this measure relies on a diagnosis by a health professional and those with undiagnosed heart disease will likely be excluded.[18]

Looking for more information?

Please download the excel file below for:

  • More information about this measure
  • Prevalence of Heart Disease-Free from 2007-2014 for Guelph and Wellington
  • Prevalence of Heart Disease-Free for Guelph and Wellington, by Gender

Download Full Dataset

Why are Chronic Diseases Important?

People who are chronically ill are likely to deal with more than one chronic disease.[7] The chances you will get a chronic disease go up if you have a poor diet, use tobacco, and/or are not physically active.[8] Change in behavior can be part of decreasing these modifiable risk factors. Age and heredity are the two main non-modifiable risk factors that can lead to chronic disease.[8]

Risk factors and likelihood of developing chronic disease are also influenced by the social, economic and physical conditions that a person experiences, including adverse childhood experiences and lack of access to social determinants of health (such good working conditions and food security).[3,5,9]

Reportable Infectious Disease

Reportable infectious diseases include vaccine preventable diseases (e.g. measles), sexual transmitted infections (e.g. chlamydia), enteric diseases (e.g. hepatitis A), vector borne diseases (e.g. lyme disease) and tuberculosis.[12]

Every year, infectious diseases (both individual cases and outbreaks of disease) cause illness and death in Canada.[13] The spread of infectious disease can be prevented by hand washing, getting vaccinated, staying home when ill, preparing food safely, practicing safe sex, and not sharing personal items.[14] 

From 2000-2009, each year infectious disease caused 2.4 to 4.4% of all deaths that occurred in Guelph Wellington and Dufferin.[15]

For more information see: Infectious Disease in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph.

Self-Rated Health

Self-rated health is your perception of your own physical health. This measure presents the subjective measure of an individual's physical health as either excellent, very good, good, fair or poor. Self-perceived health was captured as part of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). The CCHS uses probability sampling.[10]

Measures 

 Self-Rated Physical Health (2007/2008 to 2013/2014)

Key Findings

Since 2007/2008, there has been a notable increase in the proportion of people in Wellington County that rated their physical health as very good or excellent, from 61% in 2007/2008 to 70% in 2013/2014.  In Guelph during the same timeframe, 60% to 64% of the population rated their health as very good or excellent. Across Ontario, the proportion of the population that reported their health as very good or excellent stayed nearly the same from 2007/2008 to 2013/2014, ranging from 60% to 61% of the population.

 

Loading Chart...

 

*Wellington County does not include City of Guelph.

Source: Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). Statistics Canada, Annual Content (2009-2014), Ontario Share File distributed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Prepared by: Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.

Self-Rated Physical Health by Age

Key Findings

As people age they are less likely to report that their physical health is very good or excellent. From 2009 to 2014, just over three quarters (77%) of people ages 12 to 19 years old in Guelph and Wellington reported their physical health as very good or excellent. This was higher than the proportion of 12 to 19 year olds across the province (70%) who said their health was very good or excellent. For the same timeframe, in Guelph and Ontario, less than half (46%) of the population 65 years old and older rated their health as very good or excellent, while 54% of people in Wellington County reported their physical health was very good or excellent.

 

Loading Chart...

 

*Wellington County does not include City of Guelph.

Source: Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). Statistics Canada, Annual Content (2009-2014), Ontario Share File distributed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Prepared by: Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.

Why is Self-Rated Physical Health Important?

When people are asked to rate their health, they take into consideration more aspects of their life than could be covered through a survey or questionnaire. Self-rated Health is a strong predictor of mortality, morbidity and functional limitation.[16] It is also a reliable way to understand a person's overall health.[17]

Limitations

Self-reported information is influenced by response bias and person's ability to accurately remember their past behavious, experiences, and perceptions.

Looking for more information?

Please download the excel spread sheet below for more information about this measure.

Download Full Dataset 

 

Notes

The CCHS uses probability sampling. Therefore, each person in the sample represents (besides themselves) several other persons in the sample. A sample weight is calculated based on the number of people that that person represents within the population. For example, in a random sample of 1% of the population, each person in the sample would represent 100 persons in the population.[10]

References

[1] Canadian Mental Health Association (2017). The Relationship between Mental Health, Mental Illness and Chronic Physical Conditions. Available at: https://ontario.cmha.ca/documents/the-relationship-between-mental-health-mental-illness-and-chronic-physical-conditions/

[2] National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases (n.d.) Infectious diseases and population mental health promotion for children and youth. Available at: http://nccph.ca/images/uploads/general/05_Infectious_diseases_MentalHealth_NCCPH_2017_EN.pdf

[3] Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (2007). Preventing and Managing Chronic Disease: Ontario's Framework. Available at: http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/cdpm/pdf/framework_full.pdf

[4] Kwong J.C., Crowcroft N.S., Campitelli M.A., Ratnasingham S., Daneman N., Deeks S.L., Manuel D.G. (2010). Ontario Burden of Infectious Disease Study Advisory Group; Ontario Burden of Infectious Disease Study (ONBOIDS): An OAHPP/ICES Report. Toronto: Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. Available at: http://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/eRepository/ONBoID_ICES_Report_ma18.pdf

[5] Felitti, V.J., Anda, R.F., Nordenberg, M.D., Williamson, D.F., Spitz, A.M., Edwards, V., Koss, M.P., Marks, J.S. (1998). Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults.American Journal of Preventive Medicine 14(4). Available at: http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(98)00017-8/pdf

[6] Mikkonen, J. & Raphael, D. (2010). Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts. Toronto: York University School of Health Policy and Management. Available at: http://www.thecanadianfacts.org/The_Canadian_Facts.pdf

[7] Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (2007). Preventing and Managing Chronic Disease: Ontario's Framework. Available at: http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/cdpm/pdf/framework_full.pdf

[8] World Health Organization (2005). Facing the Facts #1: Chronic diseases and other Common Risk Factors Available at: http://www.who.int/chp/chronic_disease_report/media/Factsheet1.pdf

[9] Mikkonen, J. & Raphael, D. (2010). Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts. Toronto: York University School of Health Policy and Management. Available at: http://www.thecanadianfacts.org/The_Canadian_Facts.pdf

[10] Statistics Canada (2015). Canadian Community Health Survey - Annual Component (CCHS). Available at: http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3226

[11] Association of Public Health Epidemiologists in Ontario (2015). 4A Chronic health problems prevalence. Available at: http://core.apheo.ca/index.php?pid=101

[12] Association of Public Health Epidemiologists in Ontario (2015). Infectious Disease Incidence. Available at: http://core.apheo.ca/index.php?pid=167

[13] Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (2013). Infectious Disease in Wellington-Dufferin- Guelph. Available at: http://www.wdgpublichealth.ca/sites/default/files/wdgphfiles/infectious-disease-hs-report-2013.pdf

[14] Mayo Clinic (2017). Infectious Diseases. Available at: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/infectious-diseases/manage/ptc-20168678

[15] Trotz-Williams, L., Paphitis, K. (2012). Infectious Disease in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph. Available at: https://www.wdgpublichealth.ca/sites/default/files/file-attachments/report/hs_report_2012-infectious-disease-in-wdg_access.pdf

[16] Manor, O., Matthews, S., Power, C. (2011). Self-rated health and limiting longstanding illness: inter-relationships with morbidity in early adulthood. Int J Epidemiol 30 (3): 600-607.

[17] Schnittker, J., & Bacak, V. (2014). The Increasing Predictive Validity of Self-Rated Health. PLoS ONE, 9(1) Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3899056/

[18] Haydon E, Roerecke M, Giesbrecht N, Rehm J, Kobus-Matthews M. Chronic disease in Ontario and Canada: Determinants, Risk Factors and Prevention Priorities.  Toronto: Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Association, 2006.  Available from: http://www.ocdpa.on.ca/docs/CDP-FullReport-Mar06.pdf.

 

 

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