Greater Sudbury's 2012 Vital Signs report is being released at the Vale Living with Lakes Centre today.
Look back to Northernlife.ca for a full report on findings contained with this year's Vital Signs.
John Gunn, director of the Vale Living with Lakes Centre and honourary chair of this year's Vital Signs report, will be giving the keynote address.
Last year's report revealed startling statistics about the health of youth living in the area.
Children and youth in Sudbury were treated at hospital 580 times for mental health issues in 2010, the report said.
This represents 3.4 per cent of all children's visits to Sudbury Regional Hospital's emergency room. This proportion was 0.5 per cent higher than children treated for mental health reasons at all hospitals under the umbrella of the North East Local Health Integration Network and 0.3 per cent higher than all LHINs across the province.
The report also revealed 91 youth under the age of 24 were treated for “self-harm,” which includes self-poisoning, overdose and self-inflicted wounds. That number is up from the previous 82 reported cases between April 2009 and March 2010.
The report further states that child poverty rate has increased over the years, with an estimated 6,240 children living below the poverty line. Furthermore, a staggering 21.7 per cent of Sudbury youth identified themselves as daily smokers, well above the provincial and national averages of 5.1 per cent and 6.4 per cent respectively.
