Skip to Main Content

Medicine

Canadian Sources

Unless specified, sources listed below are publications of Statistics Canada.

  • Births (1997-2009) 
    This product presents statistical tables showing the number of live births and fetal deaths (stillbirths) of at least 20 weeks' gestation or birth weight of 500 grams or more; total and age-specific fertility rates and crude birth rates; live births by age of mother and live birth order; male and female birth weights; weeks of gestation at the time of birth; and multiple births. Numbers are shown for Canada, the ten provinces and the three territories. See also:
  • Canadian Cancer Statistics (Canadian Cancer Society)
  • Canadian Community Health Survey 
    "The public use microdata file from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) provides data for health regions combined health regions across Canada. It includes information on a wide range of topics, including alcohol consumption, chronic health conditions, fruit and vegetable consumption, general health, use of health services, height and weight, injuries, physical activity, restriction of activities and smoking. It also provides information on the socio-demographic characteristics, the income and the labour force characteristics of the population. Data were collected from over 130,000 respondents, aged 12 or older, residing in households across all provinces and territories."
  • Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) 
    Provides essential statistics and analysis about the health and health care system of Canadians. CIHI provides a range of free, aggregate-level data; more comprehensive data may be available in published reports.
  • Statistics Canada data on health 
    Statistics Canada data on diseases and health conditions, factors influencing health, health care services, mental health, measures of health, births, and more.
  • Cancer Survival Statistics
    Tables provide site-specific five-year observed and relative survival estimates for cases diagnosed from 1992 onwards. In addition to age-specific and age-standardized national (excl. Quebec) estimates, all ages (15 to 99 years) and age-standardized provincial estimates are available.
  • Causes of death (1991-2009) 
    "This [annual] publication contains statistical tables showing the number of deaths by age, sex and underlying cause for Canada (and by sex for the provinces for 1999 and earlier). 'Underlying cause of death' is defined as the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury. The underlying cause is selected from a number of conditions listed on the medical certificate of death. The underlying cause is presented by the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) codes, established by the World Health Organization (WHO, 1992). See also
  • Disability in Canada: Initial findings from the Canadian Survey on Disability
    "This fact sheet [plus associated data tables] provides the first results of the Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD), which was conducted by Statistics Canada in the fall of 2012. The CSD provides estimates of persons reporting a disability by type in Canada. It collected essential information on supports for persons with disabilities, as well as on their employment profile, income and participation in society.

    The survey population comprised all Canadians aged 15 or older as of May 10, 2011 who were living in private dwellings. As the institutionalized population is excluded, the data, particularly for the older age groups, should be interpreted accordingly."

    The data tables contain
    • Prevalence of disability for adults by sex and age group, for Canada, provinces and territories;
    • Adults with and without disabilities by sex and age group, for Canada, provinces and territories;
    • Type of disability for adults by sex and age group, for Canada, provinces and territories;
    • Severity of disability for adults with disabilities by sex and age group, for Canada, provinces and territories.
  • Discharge Abstract Database (2009-2012)
    The Discharge Abstract Database captures administrative, clinical, and demographic information on hospital discharges. Two files are available: Clinical Detail and Geographic Detail. These files contain a 10% sampling of persons from the database.
    • The Clinical Detail File includes inpatient data from all acute care institutions in Canada (excluding stillbirths and cadaveric donor cases). Data includes diagnosis, interventions, special care, length of stay, newborn weights, and gestation weeks at delivery.
    • The Geographic Detail File includes inpatient data from all acute care institutions in Canada (excluding stillbirths and cadaveric donor cases). Data includes Health Region, case mix variables, and length of stay.
    • Common data elements in the Clinical Detail and Geographic Detail Files are person identifier, facility province (territories are combined), discharge day, admission day, gender, and age group.
    • You must read and accept the terms of the license agreement before you can obtain the data and documentation.
    • Microdata files via <odesi>
  • Economic Burden of Illness in Canada (Public Health Agency of Canada) 
    "The Economic Burden of Illness in Canada (EBIC) provides objective and comparable information on the magnitude of the cost of illness and injury in Canada based on standard reporting units and methods. These data can be used in further economic analyses and economic evaluations, and along with other health indicators, provide an important piece of the evidence required for health policy and planning." Reports are also available for 19861993, and 1998. Separate reports available for
  • Cost of injury in Canada
    The Cost of Injury in Canada reports provide national breakdowns of the cost of injury within Canada. Reports available for Canada and several provinces/regions. Prepared by Parachute, an amalgam of four charities in the injury prevention field.
  • Health of Canadians living in census metropolitan areas 
    "This report examines the health of residents of census metropolitan areas (CMAs) through measures such as life expectancy, self-rated health, smoking, heavy drinking, obesity, physical inactivity, high blood pressure, life stress, depression, self-perceived unmet health care needs and number of general physicians and family practitioners per 100,000 population."
  • Health care in Canada (Canadian Institute for Health Information
    "provides up-to-date information on what we know and don't know about the performance of Canada's health care system".
  • Health fact sheets
    Includes short, focused, single-theme analysis documents on: Health conditions, lifestyle, well-being, disability, prevention and detection of disease, deaths, pregnancy and birth, health care services and environmental factors.
  • Health indicators 
    Health indicators is a data product produced by Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information. It provides a set of indicators which measure the health of the Canadian population and the health care system. Health indicators are designed to provide comparable information at the health region and provincial/territorial level, and are based on standard definitions and methods. These indicators are organized into four categories: health status (including health conditions, mortality rates, measures of well-being); non-medical determinants of health (socio-economic characteristics and health behaviour); health system performance (measures of accessibility, appropriateness, effectiveness of health care services); and, community and health system characteristics (contextual information). Health indicators contains data tables with rates for a variety of indicators broken down by sex and by health region. Provincial and national rates are also provided within each table. These data are produced from a wide range of sources and are the most recent available. Technical notes and definitions present information necessary to interpret these indicators. "
  • Health Indicator maps
    This publication presents a series of thematic maps, including those showing the subprovincial variations for selected health indicators based on the latest data available from different data sources. Reference maps showing the boundaries of health regions in Canada are also available by province.
  • Health Profile
    This profile features health region data from a number of sources including Statistics Canada's health surveys, administrative data, and the census of population. The application is designed to give quick access to the latest health-related data available for a selected health region, providing the corresponding provincial data by default, but users can easily select any region of choice for comparison. Location of a specific health region may be accomplished by examining the relevant health indicator reference map.
  • Health reports 
    Health reports is a quarterly journal that publishes articles of wide interest that contain original and timely analyses of health and vital statistics data. The sources of data are typically national or provincial/territorial administrative data bases or surveys. Reports are descriptive articles, frequently based on newly released statistical publications or products.
  • Health trends 
    This product presents comparable time-series data for a range of health indicators from a number of sources including the Canadian Community Health Survey, Vital Statistics, and Canadian Cancer Registry. The application is designed to give quick access to recent trends that can be customized by indicator or by geography.
  • HIV and AIDS in Canada: surveillance report to December 31, 2014 (Health Canada)
    Contains statistics on AIDS in Canada, including incidence. Other reports are available for later years, by searching "HIV Surveillance Report".
  • Injuries in Canada: Insights from the Canadian Community Health Survey 
    This article is an overview of injuries featuring results from the 2009-2010 Canadian Community Health Survey. With a focus on broad age groups, it explores various aspects of this topic such as who gets injured, main causes, and types of injuries.
  • Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health 2002/2003: findings and public-use microdata file 
    "The Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health is a collaborative project undertaken by Statistics Canada and the National Center for Health Statistics of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It is the first survey that asks a common set of questions to approximately 3,500 Canadians and 5,200 U.S. residents about their health status and access to health care services. The analytical report in this publication compares Canadians and U.S. residents on a broad range of health dimensions including self-perceived health, chronic conditions, functional status, life-style factors such as smoking and obesity, health care utilization and satisfaction with health care services."
  • National Health Expenditure Trends (CIHI) 
    "This publication includes updated expenditure data by source of funds (sector) and use of funds (category) at the provincial/territorial level and for Canada. It also contains an overview with discussion on the trends of health care spending in Canada. International comparisons such as health spending to GDP ratio are included, as well as a comprehensive set of data tables and technical notes."
  • National Population Health Survey (NPHS) 
    Content is related to health status, use of health services, determinants of health and a range of demographic and economic information. For example, the health status information includes self-perception of health, a health status index, chronic conditions, and activity restrictions. The use of health services is probed through visits to health care providers, both traditional and non-traditional, and the use of drugs and other medications. Health determinants include smoking, alcohol use, physical activity and a special focus in the second cycle of the survey was access to services with questions on preventative tests and examinations probing for frequency, reasons for use or non-use and barriers encountered. The demographic and economic information includes age, sex, education, ethnicity, household income and labour force status. Available for 1994-1995, 1996-1997 and 1998-1999.
  • Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) 
    PALS is Canada's national survey that gathers information about adults and children whose daily activities are limited by a physical, mental, or other health-related condition or problem. The reports in this series document disability rates, demographic distribution, type and severity of the activity limitation, specialized equipment or aids, support required to complete everyday tasks, barriers and accommodation to employment, education, housing, transportation, leisure and impact of activity limitations on children and their families.
    • Access restriction: DLI
    • Public-use microdata file via <odesi>2001 / 2006
  • Statistical report on the health of Canadians 
    A comprehensive and detailed statistical overview of the health status of Canadians and the major determinants of that status. The data identify populations at risk; suggest associations between health determinants, health status, and population characteristics; raise questions about the reasons for the widespread differences among the provinces and territories; and illustrate areas where Canada's health information system is robust, and others where it is relatively weak.
  • Suicide Mortality in the Canadian Armed Forces (1995 to 2014) (Department of National Defence)
     This report describes crude suicide rates from 1995 to 2014, comparisons between the Canadian population and the CAF using standardized mortality ratios (SMRs), and suicide rates by deployment history using SMRs and direct standardization. It also examines variation in suicide rate by Command and, using data from the Medical Professional Technical Suicide Reviews (MPTSR), looks at the prevalence of other suicide risk factors in suicides which occurred in 2014. 
  • Ontario Community Health Profiles
    "This website is sponsored by The Ontario Community Health Profiles Partnership (OCHPP) to make detailed, area-level health data available to everyone. Our goal is to support action to reduce health inequities in Ontario."
  • Tracking Heart Disease and Stroke in Canada, 2009 (Health Canada)
  • Waiting times
     

International Sources

United States

  • NCI Cancer Atlas (National Cancer Institute) 
    The National Cancer Institute Cancer Atlas website provides dynamically generated maps. Both mortality rates and maps are generated at the time of the request, which means that it may occasionally take several minutes to generate a map.
  • Health, United States (1995-present) 
    An annual report on trends in health statistics. Text in PDF, with Excel tables and Powerpoint slides ("chartbooks") available
  • Injury Data and Resources 
    "The purpose of this Web site is to provide an overview of the sources of national level injury data available from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and to provide details on the injury morbidity and mortality data collection systems, surveys and coding schemes used to collect and categorize the data. Links to other injury data are provided."
  • Marital Status and Health: United States, 1999-2002 
    "The report ... was based on interviews with 127,545 adults aged 18 and over as part of the National Health Interview Survey, conducted by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. The study looked at health status and limitations, health conditions, health related behaviors according to marital status and also by age, race/ethnicity and socioeconomic factors such as education and poverty status."
  • Minority women's health
    This section ... takes a closer look at some of the main health problems facing specific minority groups, and provides links to more in-depth information.
  • National Center for Health Statistics 
    "NCHS is the primary [U.S.] Federal organization responsible for the collection, analyses, and dissemination of health statistics."
  • U.S. Teenage Pregnancy Statistics and Publications

International

  • Database of Online Health Statistics ( Institute of Health Economics
    "... provides quick and easy access to freely available web-based statistics generated by national and global agencies and research groups. "
  • Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS+) 
    DHS+ surveys collect information on fertility and family planning, maternal and child health, child survival, AIDS/STIs, and other reproductive health topics. Surveys are implemented by host-country institutions, usually government statistical offices. On average, 4,000 to 8,000 women of childbearing age are interviewed in a standard survey. Many countries also survey men on family planning and health issues. Access to datasets requires prior registration.
  • Global Health Observatory (GHO) 
    Portal of the World Health Organization (WHO), providing access to data and analyses for monitoring the global health situation WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.
  • Indicators on health and childbearing ( United Nations Statistics Division)
  • Quality of Death Index 2015 - Ranking palliative care across the world
    The Quality of Death Index, commissioned by the Lien Foundation, a Singaporean philanthropic organisation, is based on extensive research and interviews with over 120 palliative care experts from across the world.
  • World Development Indicators 
    World Development Indicators (WDI) is the World Bank's annual compilation of data about development. WDI covers a wide range of topics including health.

McGill Data Guide to Resources

Data Management @ McGill

McGill LibraryQuestions? Ask us!
Privacy notice