Diabetes

Initial observational studies presented the Inuit as a population particularly protected against cardiovascular diseases (CVD), the plague of developed countries. However, because of the abandonment of traditional lifestyles, and the high prevalence of some risk factors (such as smoking 73% and obesity 19%), conclusions from the 1992 Santé Québec health survey of the Inuit population from Nunavik anticipated an increase in CVD. Twelve years later, the Nunavik Inuit Health Survey 2004 produced a new portrait of the health of this Inuit population in order to determine, among other health conditions, the prevalence of CVD and diabetes as well as their corresponding risk factors, and to assess the evolution of these health outcomes since 1992.

In this major health study, 1056 Inuit (men and women) in the 14 Nunavik communities were recruited and accepted to participate. The ensuing results are from 925 participants (aged 18 and over) who answered the clinical questionnaire, pro…

The main goal of this report is to allow health administration and clinical decision-makers in Montréal be more aware of health services utilisation by diabetics in their territories. The report on diabetes is part of the “Monitorage interprétatif” project conducted by the Équipe Santé des populations et services de santé (ESPSS), a joint team of the Montréal Public Health Department and the Institut national de santé publique du Québec. It is the first in a series of reports that will be produced on the utilisation of services by Montrealers with chronic diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and heart failure.

If the prevalence of diabetes is high in the general Québec population, studies done of Aboriginal communities show that the prevalence in this population are three to four times greater than those observed in the general population (Canada 1999). The prevalence of diabetes has increased significantly over the last 20 years among the Cree population of Northern Québec (Eeyou Istchee) aged 20 years and over, from a few cases before the 1980s, to about 5.2% in the late eighties, to 7.1% in 1991, and climbing to about 15% in 2002 (Brassard, Robinson et al. 1993; CHSSB-JB 2002) (Brassard, Robinson et al. 1993; CCSSSBJ 2002). These results are consistent with the epidemiological data observed in the United States and in other regions of Canada. Data from the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay shows that in 2002, there were 1,064 known cases of diabetes for all ages in the Eeyou population, or proportionally three times more than in the population residing in Southern Q…