Health notes. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has narrowed its search down to three potential chronic conditions which include: asthma, arthritis, or depression. Before one specific disease domain can be talked about, some background on the pre

Authors Avatar

 | RD

Health Analyst for Public Health Agency of Canada

Ripudaman Singh Kohli

Student ID: 20427787

HLTH 102 – TUT 103

Professor: Scott Leatherdale

Teacher’s Assistant: Christine Czoli

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has narrowed its search down to three potential chronic conditions which include: asthma, arthritis, or depression. Before one specific disease domain can be talked about, some background on the prevalence (the number of people who have the disease) of each condition in the country of Canada must be discussed. According to Asthma Society of Canada (ASC) (2012), asthma can be described as a “chronic inflammatory disease of the airway” which causes shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, coughing, and wheezing. By examining the statistics provided by Statistics Canada, the prevalence has been increasing over the past few years. In 2010, out of the entire population of 34 million (approximation) - 7.21% had asthma – 1,016,082 males and 1,430,386 females, the cumulative statistics include age groups from 12 – 65 and over (Statistics Canada, 2010). It can be said that asthma is prevalent among a wide group of persons around Canada.

According to PHAC (2003), arthritis is one of Canada’s most common chronic conditions which is the leading cause of pain, physical disability and use of health care services. Arthritis makes up a large group (100 types) of disorders which affects the joints, ligaments, tendons, bones, and other components of the musculoskeletal system (ASC, 2012). Even though it is non-life-threatening, arthritis affected approximately 4,451,557 million people in the year of 2010 – 1,706,044 million being male and 2,745,513 million being female, in total affecting 13.1% of Canada’s entire population during the year (Statistics Canada, 2010). The values include males and females from the age group of 15 – 65 and over. Arthritis being quite common among the elder population, depression follows and has a greater toll on a wide range of populations among Canadians.

 Depression, in simple words can be described as the “ups” and “downs” in the daily lives of people (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2012). The chronic condition can be categorized into serious diseases such as mood disorders – depressive mood disorders (bipolar disorder), post-partum depression and psychosis (PHAC, 2009). Stress is known to be a huge factor which later contributes to the emergence of depression which may occur due to the result of socio-economic factors such as income, housing, prejudice and workplace stress (PHAC, 2009). Statistics Canada shows various incidence rates according to mood disorders (5.5% of the population in 2010, including both sexes), perceived life stress (19.1% of the population in 2010, both sexes), and depression which also leads to suicide (1.1% of the population in 2008, both sexes aged 10 – 90 and older). As the prevalence rate over the entire country does not specify the population which it affects the most or the least, more information will be provided to encompass the ideas of specific sup-populations.

Join now!

Since the country’s overall statistics cannot identify certain individuals or groups who are targeted by these chronic disease domains, the prevalence of each condition must have specific stats which pertain to a high-risk group(s) in the entire population. As indicated by statistics Canada (2010), the rates of Asthma among women are higher by 1.22% which accounts for 414,000 more women than men among all age groups. The youth versus adult population has an increased prevalence in adults aged 45-64 surpassing the youth aged 12-19 by 1.13% with a greater risk for the adults to have asthma compared to the young ...

This is a preview of the whole essay