MLHU - Health Status Resource

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Glossary:

How was SES determined in the Gaps in Health based on Socioeconomic Status section?

Socioeconomic status (SES) was based on a deprivation index composed of the following factors: percent without high school diploma, percent employed, average income, percent of single-parent families, percent of persons living alone, and percent of persons separated, divorced or widowed.

Hypertension

Also known as high blood pressure. Occurs when the blood pressure in the arteries is elevated and the heart has to work harder than normal to pump blood through the blood vessels.1

1. Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. High Blood Pressure [Internet]. Ottawa, ON: Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada; 2018 [cited 2019 Sep 23]. Available from: https://www.heartandstroke.ca/heart/risk-and-prevention/condition-risk-factors/high-blood-pressure

Immigrant

Immigrants are people who are or who have ever been landed immigrants or permanent residents. Such persons have been granted the right to live in Canada permanently by immigration authorities. Immigrants who have obtained Canadian citizenship by naturalization are included in this category.

Immunization coverage

“Immunization coverage refers to the proportion of a defined population that is appropriately immunized against a specific vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) at a point in time”2 .

Student immunization coverage is usually expressed as a percent, and can be calculated for a variety of populations of interest: within a particular grade in a school, for an entire school, or across an entire region. As immunization coverage values increase, the greater the proportion of people in the population of interest who are appropriately immunized, and therefore considered to have protection from the vaccine-preventable disease of interest.

Assessment of whether or not students are appropriately immunized is based on whether they have received the immunizations indicated in the Publicly Funded Immunization Schedules for Ontario at the appropriate age and time intervals.

Immunization of School Pupils Act

The Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA) is the Ontario legislation that outlines the responsibilities of Ontario public health units to maintain immunization records for students attending schools in their jurisdictions, and to assess those records to ensure that students are appropriately immunized against designated vaccine-preventable diseases of public health significance. Under the ISPA, students whose immunization records are not up-to-date for designated diseases may be suspended from school. Those who have had the disease of interest or who have medical reasons for being unimmunized against ISPA-designated diseases can submit a Statement of Medical Exemption. Those who have philosophical or religious reasons for being unimmunized can submit a Statement of Conscience or Religious Belief.

Immunization Records Information System (IRIS)

IRIS is the information system used by all Ontario health units in Ontario to record immunizations and exemptions for all students attending school within the health unit jurisdiction, as well as children attending licensed day cares.  The database is maintained by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and individual health units.

Impact of Health Problems

This is a crude measure of the impact of long-term physical conditions, mental conditions and health problems on the principal domains of life: home, work, school, and other activities.

Incidence Rate

The rate at which new events occur in the population in the given time period

Incidence rate of cancer

The number of new cancer cases diagnosed per year.

Income quintile

This is a measure that divides the entire population into five equal groups, also known as quintiles. Approximately 20% of the population is in each group. The lowest income quintile is the group with the lowest total household income, after taxes.

Income share

is one way to look at income inequality. It is the share of income held by the half of all households whose incomes fall below the median household income. A percent of 0% would represent complete inequality and a percent of 50% would represent equality.

Index of Socioeconomic Distress in Maps

The socioeconomic distress index, developed at Human Environments Analysis Laboratory at Western University, takes into account four factors: highest level of completed education, unemployment rate, lone parenthood rate, and low income rate. Greater composite scores correspond to higher levels of socioeconomic distress.

Indigenous

A collective name for the original peoples of North America (i.e., First Nations, Métis and Inuit) and their descendants. The indicator “Aboriginal peoples” is used on the 2016 Census to determine Indigenous identity that is, North American Indian, Métis or Inuit, and/or those who reported being a Treaty Indian or a Registered Indian, as defined by the Indian Act of Canada, and/or those who reported they were members of an Indian band or First Nations. The Canadian Constitution recognizes three groups of Aboriginal people — Indians, Métis and Inuit. These are three separate peoples with unique heritages, languages, cultural practices and spiritual beliefs.

1. Ontario Federation of Labour Aboriginal Circle and Ontario Federation of Labour Aboriginal Persons Caucus. Traditional Territory Acknowledgements in Ontario [Internet]. Toronto ON: Ontario Federation of Labour 2017 [cited 2018 Nov 22]. Available from: www.ofl.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017.05.31-Traditional-Territory-Acknowledgement-in-Ont.pdf

Infants with family involved with Child Protection Services

Includes families with past or present involvement with Child Protection Services. Excludes involvement of parents with Child Protection Services when they were children.

Infant’s mother is a single parent

A mother who identifies herself as the sole primary caregiver for the baby/child.

Integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS)

iPHIS is the information system used for reporting case information for all provincially and nationally reportable communicable diseases. This database is managed by the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care and used in Ontario public health units for communicable disease case and contact follow-up as well as outbreak management. 

IntelliHEALTH

IntelliHEALTH is managed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and contains health information from numerous data sources. The following data sources were used in this resource:

  • Vital Statistics (deaths) from the Office of the Ontario Registrar General;
  • Inpatient Discharges (hospitalizations, live births, stillbirths) from Canadian Institute for Health Information’s (CIHI) Discharge Abstract Database (DAD)
  • Population Estimates from Statistics Canada, approved by the Ontario Ministry of Finance.

 

Intention to breastfeed

Mothers who intend to feed breast milk to their infant; self-reported during pregnancy or at time of birth.

Invasive Infections

An infection is considered invasive when it is found in a normally sterile part of the body, such as blood or cerebrospinal fluid.

Ischaemic heart disease

Heart problems caused by the buildup of plaque in the heart’s arteries. It is also known as coronary heart disease.1

1. Public Health Agency of Canada. Heart Disease in Canada [Internet]. Ottawa, ON: Government of Canada; 2017 [cited 2019 Sep 23]. Available from: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/diseases-co...

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