Data: Sudburians fatter, drunker than provincial average

Greater Sudbury and the surrounding district continue to have higher rates of smoking, heavy drinking and obesity than Ontario overall, says the Sudbury and District Health Unit's latest Population Health Profile.

Drawing from provincial and federal data sets, the health unit's Population Health Profile found, for example, that 25 per cent of adults surveyed in the region were smokers in 2013 and 2014. That rate is similar to what has been reported in northeastern Ontario, but higher than the provincial rate. In Ontario, just over 17 per cent of adults are smokers, according to Statistics Canada.

Similarly, 32 per cent of adults in the Sudbury and District Health Unit area were considered obese in 2013-2014.

The health unit said that between 2005 and 2014, the rate of obesity in the area has increased significantly, and remains higher than the provincial rate.

According to Statistics Canada's Community Health Survey, 25 per cent of Ontarians over the age of 18 were considered obese in 2011-2012.

Survey results from 2013-2014 found that 24 per cent of respondents – aged 12 and over – reported heavy drinking in the previous year. In Ontario, 17 per cent of residents over the age of 12 reported heavy drinking in 2013.

The health unit defines heavy drinking as consuming at least four or five servings of alcohol (for women and men, respectively) on at least one occasion per month in the previous 12 months.

The heavy drinking rate in Sudbury and the surrounding district was again similar to the northeastern Ontario rate, but higher than the provincial rate.

“Those are very challenging behaviours to address,” said Marc Lefebvre, the health unit's manager of population health assessment and surveillance. “They take a long time to change.”

Using population health data, Lefebvre said the health unit can better target and manage its public health programs.

For example, men were far more likely to report heavy drinking than women, he said. With that knowledge the health unit can build a heavy drinking information campaign to target men more specifically.

In addition to unhealthy behaviours, the Population Health Profile also looked at mortality rates in the Sudbury and District Health unit area.

In 2011, for example, there were 773 deaths in the area that could have been avoided or delayed with proper screening, early detection and appropriate treatment.

The rate of avoidable deaths was again higher than in Ontario, but decreased from 2002 to 2011.

The two most common causes of death in the area is ischemic heart disease – responsible for 19 per cent of deaths between 2002 and 2011 – and lung cancer, which caused nine per cent of deaths.

Both death rates were higher than the provincial average, which are 17 per cent for ischemic heart disease and seven per cent for lung cancer.

The health unit has said it plans to release future community health profiles in the coming months with data on mental health, diabetes, injuries and other health issues.