Appendix B: List of Data Sources

Hospital Morbidity Database (HMDB) – Canadian Institute for Health Information
The Canadian Institute for Health Information maintains the HMDB, which covers hospital separations – transfers, discharges, or deaths – in Canada. The hospital completes a record for each individual. In addition to demographic and administrative information, the database contains up to 16 diagnostic codes and some procedure codes.

The HMDB contains separation records from general and allied special hospitals, including acute care, convalescence, and chronic facilities (except in Ontario). The tables presented exclude information on newborns, out-of-province admissions, and a small number of records flagged as having serious errors. Records are not available for the Ontario Chronic Care Patient System, which accounted for about 1% of admissions in fiscal year 1996/97.

Mortality Database – Statistics Canada
Provincial and territorial offices of vital statistics submit information annually on all deaths from all vital statistics registries in Canada. An informant, usually a relative of the deceased, completes the personal information portion of the death registration form. The portion of the form comprising the medical certificate of death is completed by the medical practitioner last in attendance or by a coroner if an inquest or enquiry was held. The database includes demographic information and the underlying cause of death as defined by the physician.

National Diabetes Surveillance System (NDSS)
The NDSS uses provincial/territorial administrative databases to identify groups of individuals who are likely to have diabetes. The medical diagnosis recorded on both the physician service claims data and hospitalization data are utilized in the determination of diabetes status. The initial data available from the system has been able to show the prevalence (number of existing cases) of diabetes and as the system matures, it is expected to be able to be useful in assessing the incidence (number of new cases). In addition, the system has the potential to be able to compare groups of individuals who have diabetes to the general population in order to assess how health care services are being used.

National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) – Human Resource Development Canada (HRDC)
The primary objective of the NLSCY is to develop a national database on the characteristics and life experiences of Canadian children as they grow from infancy to adulthood. The survey collects cross-sectional information as well as longitudinal data. Data collection began in 1994/1995 and will be repeated every 2 years to follow the children surveyed in 1994/1995. In subsequent years, a cross-sectional sample will be added for age groups no longer covered by the longitudinal sample.

The NLSCY target population includes children in all provinces and territories, except children living in institutions, on Indian reserves, on Canadian Armed Forces Bases, and in some remote areas. The survey collects information on the child from the household member most knowledgeable about the child. Up to four children per household are chosen randomly. The survey is designed primarily for analysis at the national, regional, and in some cases provincial/ territorial level. Analysis of sub-populations is limited by insufficient sample sizes.

National Population Health Survey (NPHS) – Statistics Canada
The NPHS collects information related to the health of the Canadian population and related socio-demographic information. The NPHS is composed of three components: the Household Survey, the Health Care Institution Survey and the Northern Territories Survey. The NPHS Household Survey has two sections – a longitudinal panel of individuals who are surveyed every 2 years (14,900 in 1996 and 14,200 in 1998) and a cross-sectional component (17,600 in 1994/95, 81,800 in 1996/97 and 17,200 in 1998/99). The data in this report come from the 1994/95, 1996/97, and 1998/99 cross-sectional household component of the NPHS – the Master File.

The NPHS household component includes household residents in all provinces/territories, with the exclusion of populations in Indian Reserves, Canadian Armed Forces Bases, and some remote areas in Quebec and Ontario. The first cycle of data collection began in 1994, and data will be collected every second year for approximately 20 years in total. Three cycles of collection are now completed for each component: NPHS Cycle 1 (1994/1995), NPHS Cycle 2 (1996/1997), and NPHS Cycle 3 (1998/1999).

Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS) – Statistics Canada
The objective of the 1991 APS was to provide a unique source of comprehensive data on the employment, education, language, mobility, health, lifestyle, and housing characteristics of Canada's Aboriginal peoples. The APS population defined through the 1991 Census includes those people who reported at least one Aboriginal origin (i.e. North American Indian, Métis, Inuit, or other Aboriginal groups such as Cree or Inuvialuit) for question 15 of the Census long questionnaire. It includes individuals who had indicated either a single Aboriginal origin; multiple ethnic origins, that is Aboriginal in combination with at least one other non-Aboriginal origin (e.g. English, Irish, etc); or multiple Aboriginal origins.

For each of the areas chosen for the survey, a list was compiled of people who had indicated Aboriginal origins and those who reported being registered under the Indian Act on their 1991 Census long questionnaire. A sample was selected from the list that allowed estimates to be made of the characteristics of Aboriginal people living on Indian reserves and settlements, in other Aboriginal communities, and in other areas in Canada.

IMS Health Dataset – Canadian Retail Pharmacies
CompuScript measures the number of prescriptions dispensed by Canadian retail pharmacies. Product information is presented according to therapeutic class and each individual product. The data collected can be used to ascertain product prescription volume and share, for trending purposes, thereby providing a measure of product utilization. By monitoring filled prescriptions as they pass into the hands of consumers, CompuScript can be used to evaluate education and information programs directed toward physicians, pharmacists, and consumers.

The CompuScript sample is drawn from the IMS prescription database panel, which now comprises over 4,400 pharmacies or nearly two-thirds of all retail pharmacies in Canada. Over 2,100 stores are used in the CompuScript panel, each stratified by province, type (chain or independent), and size (large or small). Records are collected monthly from each of these pharmacies, by diskette from stores with independent computer systems or by an external software supplier for stores that are part of a data network system. Sample data collected from this panel are projected to the universe in each province, and provincial totals are added together to provide a national estimate.

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