Deaths due to pneumonia and influenza

In 1996, the age-standardized mortality rate due to pneumonia and influenza was 23.3 deaths per 100,000 population in Canada.

Rural regions in the Prairie provinces and large urban centres in western Canada have high mortality rates from pneumonia and influenza

In peer group G, made up mainly of rural regions in the Prairie provinces and some regions in Ontario, one-third (7) of the regions have mortality rates from pneumonia and influenza that were significantly higher than the 1996 national average The rates for these seven health regions ranged from 28.0 in Chinook Regional Health Authority (Alberta) to 36.1 in Swift Current Service Area (Saskatchewan). All the other regions in this peer group had rates that were not significantly different from the national average.

In peer group A (high-density metropolitan areas), there were mixed results. The health regions of Burnaby, Richmond and Vancouver were the three regions in group A with age-standardized pneumonia and influenza mortality rates that were significantly higher than the national average. Région de Montréal-Centre had a rate that was significantly lower, while Toronto Public Health Unit's rate was not significantly different from the national average.

The same pattern of high pneumonia and influenza mortality rates in the west emerged in peer group B (large urban centres). Only two of the eight health regions in this peer group had rates that were significantly higher than the national average: North Shore (30.2) and the Simon Fraser region (32.5). Ottawa-Carleton Public Health Unit had a rate that was significantly lower than the national average, while the other five health regions had rates that were not significantly different from the Canada rate.

Generally low pneumonia and influenza death rates in the rural Atlantic and Quebec

While four health regions in peer group D (rural regions mainly in the Atlantic provinces) had mortality rates from pneumonia and influenza that were not significantly different from the national average of 23.3 deaths per 100,000, the other five regions in this group had rates that were significantly lower than the national average. In 1996, this group of five health regions had rates that ranged from 13.5 in Region 7 in New Brunswick to 17.4 in the Région de la Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine.

As well, some regions in Quebec had low mortality rates from pneumonia and influenza. For example, in peer group H, made up of 22 relatively urbanized regions in eastern Canada, nearly all of the 11 regions with rates significantly lower than the national average were located in Quebec. Eight other health regions in this peer group have rates that were not significantly different from the national average, while three others (Region 4, Hamilton-Wentworth Public Health Unit and Sudbury Public Health Unit) had rates that were significantly higher than the Canada rate.

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