Mortality among children and youth in high-percentage First Nations identity areas, 2000-2002 and 2005-2007.

• Main Authors: Peters, P. (Paul A.), Oliver, L.N. (Lisa N), Kohen, D.E. (Dafna E)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Canada; First Nations
• Online Access: https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/22596

Many First Nations children live in communities that face diverse social and health challenges compared with their non-Aboriginal peers, including some of the most socio-economically challenging situations in Canada. These differences can be seen in broad indicators of the social determinants of health. Studies of mortality in Aboriginal populations across Canada are often restricted by the lack of Aboriginal identifiers on national death records. While some studies have utilised a record-linkage approach, this is often not possible for the entire country or for recent data. Some researchers have adopted a geographic approach and examined mortality and morbidity in areas that have a high percentage of Aboriginal identity residents, and have uniformly reported elevated rates of mortality and morbidity compared with other areas. The purpose of this article was to examine child and youth mortality (aged 1 to 19 years) in areas where a high percentage of the population identified as First Nations in comparison with areas where there is a low percentage of Aboriginal identity residents. Using a geographic threshold table approach, areas with a high percentage of Aboriginal identit