Women's health

From Tiny Tot to Toddler is a practical guide that contains scientifically supported information about pregnancy, delivery and the first two years of a child’s life. A free printed guide is given to all new Québec parents at the beginning of pregnancy follow-up. Parents involved in an adoption process can also receive a free guide.

This review provides a portrait of our current knowledge on parents’ social isolation and loneliness during the perinatal and early childhood period. This document informs public health actors working with parents and their families on various aspects of these two phenomena. A scoping review was carried out to identify: 1) the definitions of social isolation and loneliness, as well as the distinction with certain related concepts; 2) the main instruments used to measure social isolation…

This surveillance report examines changes from 1989–1992 to 2008–2010 in preterm and small-for-gestational-age birth rates in Québec for the general population and by mother’s first language. Rates based on selected sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., place of residence, material deprivation, and immigrant status) of mothers in each linguistic community are also presented.

The report’s main finding is that previously observed variations in perinatal health favoring Anglophones…

The Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) [Québec’s public health institute] was mandated by Québec’s Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) [ministry of health and social services] to produce a report on the effects of group prenatal classes. In Québec, prenatal classes are meant to provide pregnant women and their partners with information and to prepare them for childbirth and their new role as parents.

The purpose of this report is to identify the…

Objectives To summarize the available scientific information on the effects of workplace noise exposure during pregnancy. The studied effects on pregnancy are: spontaneous abortion (SA), stillbirth (SB), congenital anomalies (CA), preterm delivery (PTD), low birth weight (LBW), small-forgestational- age (SGA) infant, pre-eclampsia (PE) and gestational hypertension (GHT). The effect of workplace noise during pregnancy on the child's hearing is also addressed.

…

In 2007, the Comité sur l'immunisation du Québec (CIQ) recommended the establishment of a human papillomavirus (HPV) immunization program with the main objective of reducing the incidence of cervical cancer. In its recommendation paper, the CIQ pointed out the importance of measuring the impact of such a program and the necessary complementarity that should exist between the immunization program and cancer screening activities. However, it was not within the organization's mandate to issue…

This paper describes the state of health of Nunavik Inuit women and the sexual health profile of men and women as reported during the Nunavik Inuit Health Survey 2004. The results focus on the preventive attitude among women such as screening techniques of cervical and breast cancer and also on women’s behaviour during pregnancy and their bone health status. It also concentrates on preventive sexual behaviours among men and women such as the number of sexual partners in the preceding year…

Many Inuit community members have expressed their concern about the rates of sexual abuse in Nunavik. The objective of the Nunavik Inuit Health Survey 2004 was, among other things, to gather information regarding the prevalence of sexual abuse and the characteristics of the victims in Nunavik. A total of 856 adults completed the sexual abuse section of the confidential questionnaire from which the current data are drawn.

Results reveal that one in three adults has experienced sexual…

Anemia is often due to iron deficiency which is caused by insufficient dietary intake or poor absorption of iron to replace losses. Iron deficiency anemia has a negative impact on physical work capacity, cognitive performance and resistance to infection. The World Health Organization recognizes anemia as a widespread public health problem having major consequences on health as well as on social and economical development. The prevalence of anemia in Aboriginal children in Canada is eight…