Life habits

This report presents the annual and cumulative prevalence of substance-related disorders (SRDs). It demonstrates the ability of the Québec Integrated Chronic Disease Surveillance System (QICDSS) to allow for the study of SRDs based on health administrative databases. Prevalences were determined based on administrative data from April 1, 2001 to March 31, 2016, for all persons eligible for coverage by the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec and aged 12 and older. To be identified as having an SRD, the individual must have had at least one medical visit or hospitalization resulting in a primary or secondary diagnosis of an SRD.

• Over a 15-year period, 40 individuals per 1,000 were diagnosed with an alcohol-related disorder and 39 per 1,000 with a drug-related disorder. Approximately 13 per 1,000 were diagnosed with both an alcohol-related and a drug-related disorder. Thus, 66 individuals per 1,000 were diagnosed with at least one SRD.
• The annual prevalence o…

The prescription and use of opioid drugs has increased significantly in Québec in recent years. According to studies recently published by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec – INSPQ (Gagné et al., 2013; Gagné, Dubé, Légaré and Perron, 2015), an increase in the number of deaths and the mortality rate attributable to opioid overdose was also reported in the province between 2000 and 2012, among the population aged 20 and over.

As part of an agreement with Health Canada, a project funded by the Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund (DSCIF) has been implemented in Québec for 2015-2017 in order to address opioid prescribing practices in chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) management, which is often associated with the overdose trends. The grant was awarded to the INSPQ as the project coordinator, in collaboration with the Collège des médecins du Québec, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of Université de Sherbrooke, and the Centre de recherche et d’…

• There are many sources of noise, which increase the difficulty of mitigating the effects. Some examples are noise from road and air traffic, as well as rail noise, noise from port (harbor) facilities or from construction sites.
• Land-use planning and management are some effective and key noise control and mitigation measures. These measures are planned and implemented by regional county municipalities (RCM), municipalities and proponents.
• There are various best environmental noise mitigation practices, from active transportation to street design, by way of the orientation of buildings and inner rooms, not to mention noise barriers and the addition of plants arranged in an optimal manner. Although the effectiveness of several of these measures has been quantified, they are poorly known.
• Since environmental noise has harmful effects on people’s physical and psycho-social health and quality of life, applying these solutions will help properly protect…

Tools :

• Overdose report form for health professionals
• Overdose report form for communitybased organizations
• Investigation questionnaire

Drug use is a current phenomenon creating concern among public authorities and the population. It represents an important public health issue because of the significant social and health impacts associated with it. Overdose, with or without death, is a serious health consequence of drug use. Throughout North America, overdoses are on the rise. This is part…

Acute alcohol poisoning occurs frequently in Québec. Between January 1 and November 26, 2017, provincial emergency rooms admitted 2,332 young people age 12–24 for acute alcohol poisoning. That is equivalent to 214 cases per month, 49 cases per week, or 7 cases per day.

These cases are serious. One quarter of young people age 12–24 admitted to the emergency room at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Sherbrooke for alcohol-related problems had a priority level indicating that their lives were at risk.

The available data do not conclusively demonstrate that products with high alcohol and sugar content were the main cause of acute alcohol poisoning cases treated in Québec emergency rooms in 2017. Nonetheless, analysis of the data underscores a serious problem that justifies stronger preventive action.

Sales of sweetened alcoholic beverages are up in grocery and convenience stores in Québec. Products with the highest alcohol content show the highe…

Whether for recreation or transportation, safe bike-riding is the result of interactions between individuals’ and environments’ characteristics, including natural elements, as well as man-made and developed elements. This TOPO’s main objective is to present the results of scientific writings concerning the association between the man-made environment, bike-riding and cyclist safety.

Some elements of the man-made environment promote safe bike-riding and thereby contribute to maximizing the physical activity of bike-riding for transportation and recreation, while minimizing the risk of cyclist injuries. These elements and interventions are:

• Reducing the speed and volume of motorized traffic using various traffic-calming measures;
• Physically separating motorized traffic from bike-riding traffic (e.g., bicycle paths built into the road right-of-way);
• Reconfiguring the road to give cyclists more space (e.g., bicycle paths built into the road rig…

Studies on the economic burden of obesity and overweight carried out in Canada and other industrialized countries, clearly demonstrate that the increased incidence of overweight generates additional costs in terms of the use of health services, and impacts the economic health of these societies. 

This TOPO provides an estimate of the economic consequences of obesity and overweight in Québec. The Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) has studied the evidence on this issue from an economic perspective. In it, we describe the behaviour of…