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The questions

Respondents to the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) were asked if they had suffered an injury in the past 12 months.  Those who had were then asked about the nature of the most serious injury.  Respondents whose most serious injury involved broken or fractured bones were asked which body part was involved.  Three groups were used for this analysis:  hip fracture; thigh, knee, lower leg, ankle or foot fracture; shoulder, arm, wrist or hand fracture.

A dichotomous variable for the effects of a stroke was created from responses to a question asking if the respondent was currently experiencing such problems.  Those who were and who also belonged to one of the identified fracture comparison groups were excluded from the analysis; thus the fracture groups represented those with these injuries, but without the compounded effects of a stroke.  Respondents with missing information about injuries or stroke were excluded from the analysis; this amounted to 241 respondents, or 1% of the weighted sample of respondents aged 60 or older.

Chronic condition(s) indicates the self-reported presence of one or more of the following, as asked of CCHS respondents:  asthma, high blood pressure, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, diabetes, heart disease, heart attack (ever), angina, congestive heart failure, cancer, ulcers, bowel disorder, dementia, thyroid condition, schizophrenia, mood disorder, or anxiety. 

For living arrangements, respondents were categorized as living with kin if they were living with their spouse or partner with or without their children, with children only, or with a parent.  Living with others captures those who were unattached but living with others, or had some arrangement other than “alone” or “with kin.”

Needed help with ADL or IADL tasks was based on responses to several CCHS questions.  Two questions captured activities of daily living (ADL):  “Because of any physical condition or mental condition or health problem, do you need the help of another person with personal care such as washing, dressing, eating or taking medication?” and “Because of any physical condition or mental condition or health problem, do you need the help of another person with moving about inside the house?”  The instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) were covered by asking:  “Because of any physical condition or mental condition or health problem, do you need the help of another person with preparing meals? . . . getting to appointments and running errands such as shopping for groceries? . . . doing normal everyday housework? . . . doing heavy household chores such as spring cleaning or yard work? . . . looking after your personal finances such as making bank transactions or paying bills?”.  Needing help was a dichotomous variable coded as ‘1’ if respondents answered “yes” to any one of these questions.  If a response was not provided, the respondent was excluded from the analysis of this needs variable.

A very strong sense of community belonging represents those who selected the first response when asked, “How would you describe your sense of belonging to your local community?  Would you say it is very strong, somewhat strong, somewhat weak, very weak?”. 

Receipt of government-subsidized home care was determined by asking if respondents had “received any home care services within the past 12 months, with the cost being entirely or partially covered by government?”