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Health risks in Canadians: Student worksheet 2

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Activity 1. Understanding the data

Using the column "Total all causes," determine whether more people died in the age group 40–44 or the age group 60–64.
Explain why the pattern of numbers differs between the column showing the cause of death as "Neoplasms" and the next column, "Accidental deaths."
The numbers in the column referring to childbirth, "Perinatal mortality," are quite different from the other columns. Explain why so few age groups show numbers in this column.

Activity 2. Manipulating and analysing the data

Using the table "Potential Years of Life Lost, by Cause of Death, 1996" (if you are using the CD ROM select the table for your sex), select your age group, your parents' age group and your grandparents' age group from the table and transfer the data to the spreadsheet below.
For each of the three age groups listed, show each cause of death as a percentage of the total causes of death.
Number, in decreasing order of harm, the causes of death for each age group.

Comment on whether or not the data in this table support the analysis found on pages 110–112 of the Canada Year Book 1999.

Question 4
Causes of death	Age group
	Yours			Your parents'			Your grandparents'
	Years lost	% of all loss	Order of harm	Years lost	% of all loss	Order of harm	Years lost	% of all lost	Order of harm
Total all causes		100%			100%			100%
Neoplasms
Accidents
Suicides
Perinatal death
Congenital anomalies
Respiratory diseases
Heart disease
Cerebrovascular diseases
Other causes