Mortality

Avoidable Mortality of the Two Main Linguistic Communities in Québec

This report examines the avoidable mortality rates of Québec's two main linguistic groups, francophones and anglophones, over four periods: 1990−1994, 1995−1999, 2000−2004, and 2005−2007. The analysis was performed for Québec as a whole and for three specific areas: the Montréal census metropolitan area (CMA), all of Québec's other census metropolitan areas (Gatineau, Québec City, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, and Saguenay), and the rest of Québec, i.e., non-metropolitan areas, or non-CMA.

Avoidable mortality refers to deaths occurring before age 75 due to causes that are known to be preventable. It is considered as an indicator of the quality of health services and public health interventions. Given advances in knowledge about the causes of disease and the means of treatment, we should ideally see a decrease in avoidable deaths, regardless of where people live or to what linguistic group they belong. We used the classification method developed by Tobias and Jackson (2001…

Surveillance of Mental Disorders in Québec: Prevalence, Mortality and Service Utilization Profile

Although population surveys based on standardized questionnaires on mental disorders convey information on prevalence, they cannot provide timely monitoring data on changes in prevalence of mental disorders or their complications. Moreover, they cannot deliver information on links between services offered and utilization that could be used provincially, regionally and locally for mental health prevention planning and service organization.

To overcome this problem, the unité Surveillance des maladies chroniques et de leurs déterminants (USMCD; Chronic Diseases and determinants Surveillance Unit) at the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) was given the mandate to develop and implement a mental disorder surveillance system in Québec.

To shed light on the nature and magnitude of mental disorders in Québec, the USMCD has published this first report on surveillance of mental disorders, for the years 1999–2000 to 2009–2010. The report provides information…

Breast Cancer Mortality Reduction after Initiation of a Screening Program: Consistency of Effect Estimates Obtained Using Different Approaches

Effect on breast cancer mortality of a mammography screening program initiated in 1998 was assessed. Two effect estimates were obtained for each of three groups: participants, eligible women and all women of the target age group including those with prior breast cancer diagnosis. Methods: Four approaches were used: 1) observed and projected breast cancer mortality trends for 1998-2004 were compared, 2) breast cancer mortality in the first five years of the program (1998-2003) was compared to mortality for the five years prior to program initiation (1992-1997) restricting numerators of rates to breast cancer deaths occurring among incident cases, 3) observed number of breast cancer deaths among 523,830 program participants was compared to expected number based on breast cancer incidence and survival of non-participants, 4) nested case-control study (873 cases, 8730 controls) was done within the 1,054,620 women eligible for screening. Results: A…

Équipe d'évaluation du PQDCS