Aboriginal health

Anemia is often due to iron deficiency which is caused by insufficient dietary intake or poor absorption of iron to replace losses. Iron deficiency anemia has a negative impact on physical work capacity, cognitive performance and resistance to infection. The World Health Organization recognizes anemia as a widespread public health problem having major consequences on health as well as on social and economical development. The prevalence of anemia in Aboriginal children in Canada is eight times higher than among similar non-aboriginal populations in Canada and is especially high among Inuit children. Until now, the prevalence of anemia in Nunavik women was unknown, however it was suspected that similar results existed. In recent decades, important changes in lifestyle habits and dietary patterns occurred among the population of Nunavik, contributing to decreased consumption of traditional foods which are a good source of iron. This summary presents the prevalence of iron deficiency,…

The activities of hunting, fishing and collection of resources from the land and sea are of central importance to the health of Inuit in Nunavik. For approximately twenty years now, confidence in these resources and Inuit access to them have been threatened by reports of environmental contaminants in wildlife, social and economic trends influencing the time available to hunt and fish, and more recently, reports of climate change and variability and influences on the availability and accessibility of wildlife resources. This summary focuses on the information on these issues contained in the Nunavik Inuit Health Survey 2004.

Country foods, and the activities (hunting and fishing) to collect, distribute and prepare them for consumption, are still important aspects of everyday life in Nunavik communities today. They are important for their social and cultural value, formal and informal economic worth, and what they represent in terms of their contributions to physical, social a…

In Nunavik, common practices such as the consumption of untreated water and raw game may promote exposure to pathogenic agents responsible for zoonoses, infections that may be transmitted from animals to humans, as well as for food-borne and water-borne infections. As part of the 2004 Nunavik Inuit Health Survey, information was gathered to depict the supply of drinking water and to determine the prevalence of certain infections among the Inuit population, including gastroenteritis.

The results reveal that the region and socioeconomic characteristics (age, education and revenue) of the main respondents (n = 521) were associated with the supply of drinking water in households (source of drinking water, type of treatment used in the house and frequency of cleaning the domestic reservoir). Approximately one third of households draw their main water from a natural source and this practice is more common among respondents aged 50 and over, those with a lower level of education an…

The Nunavik Inuit Health Survey conducted in 2004 allowed the gathering of significant information on the physical, psychological and social health of the Inuit population. The survey was only possible thanks to the participation of a great number of individuals in planning and carrying it out. The main objective of the present report is to describe in detail the various steps of the survey to provide readers and future database users with a better understanding of its design, data collection logistics and statistical methods. This report could be used as a reference for future surveys of a similar nature among other Native populations. The first section describes the various stages of the survey. The second section is a detailed description of the nutrition part. A variety of survey instruments are appended to the report for reference.

Alcohol and drug use

The Nunavik Inuit Health Survey, conducted throughout the 14 communities of Nunavik in autumn 2004, provides an update of the alcohol and drug use descriptive profile of the population aged 15 and over and identifies the sociodemographic characteristics associated with substance use.

In Nunavik in 2004, the proportion of drinkers was 77%, which is lower than the rate observed in Canada and in Quebec. This rate, however, represents an increase of almost 17% in Nunavik compared with 1992. Globally, the prevalence of drinkers is higher among participants under the age of 45, who are more educated, who have a job and who live in a community that permits the sale of alcohol.

Heavy drinking (five drinks or more on a single occasion) is widespread in Nunavik with close to 9 out of 10 consumers having drunk heavily at least once in the year preceding the survey, a rate that is two times higher than that observed in southern Quebe…

The Inuit of Nunavik are exposed to metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that are carried from southern to northern latitudes by oceanic and atmospheric transport and biomagnified in Arctic food webs. As the Inuit traditional diet comprises large amounts of tissues from marine mammals, fish and terrestrial wild game, the Inuit are more exposed to these contaminants than populations living in southern regions. The traditional suite of legacy POPs comprises polychlorinated dibenzo p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and chlorinated pesticides whereas emerging POPs include perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), halogenated phenolic compounds (HPCs) and brominated flame retardants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Legacy POPs have been found to be neurotoxic, carcinogenic, hepatotoxic and have reproductive, endocrine and immunotoxic effects. Human health effects of emerging POPs are mostly unknown, but animal stud…

The Nunavik territory is a remote area characterized by a high proportion of young people and with different housing arrangements than the rest of Quebec. The Nunavik Inuit Health Survey 2004 revealed that forty percent of Inuit are under the age of 15. The average size of Nunavik households is 4.7 persons, which is almost double that of the rest of Quebec. Most Inuit are living in households with other family members because of a high birth rate and a shortage of residences, and very few live alone, regardless of their marital status. Multiple family households represent 31% of Nunavik households.

The proportion of adopted children aged 17 and under is 29% among Nunavik Inuit. The observed adoption rate, which appears very high when compared to the rest of Quebec, is consistent with the age-old Inuit tradition of custom adoptions, defined as a privately arranged adoption. The average age at adoption for the adoptive mother and father are 38 and 43 years old respectively.…

Hearing loss

Hearing problems are widespread in Nunavik with one quarter of adults having hearing loss in both ears. Men have three times more hearing loss than women (36% vs. 12%) and these problems are found to increase with age; more than half the adults over age 45 suffer from a hearing loss in both ears. Prevalence of hearing disability (as defined by World Health Organization) was 7.6% in Nunavik in 2004, which is one of the highest of the regions of the world surveyed to date.

Comparing men and women, hearing ability is similar in the youngest age group, but at age 30-44, men already show a greater deficiency compared to women. In the oldest age group (45 and over), three out of four men suffered bilateral hearing impairment compared to one out of four women. If we assume that hearing loss in women is primarily due to age and factors other than noise exposure, we can observe the deleterious effect of noise in the male population. Frequent hun…

A respiratory health survey on a representative sample (1023) of Inuit children aged 0 to 14 was undertaken for the first time in Nunavik in 2004. The data on respiratory symptoms and asthma were obtained from a household respondent, usually a parent, by means of the standardized ISAAC questionnaire (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood). Other questions were also asked about various home and environmental variables.

Results indicate that the prevalence of wheezing, persistent wheezing and severe wheezing is three to four times higher in the 0 to 4 age group compared to the 5 to 14 age group (14.5% vs. 3.4%). In comparison with southern Quebec and many countries, the prevalence of wheezing in younger Inuit children is relatively high, while it is relatively low among older children. The prevalence of wheezing among Inuit children aged 5 to 14 is about half the prevalence of wheezing found in children from southern Quebec aged 9 to 13, and is similar to th…

The Inuit of Nunavik are exposed to metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that are carried from southern to northern latitudes by oceanic and atmospheric transport and biomagnified in Arctic food webs. As the Inuit traditional diet comprises large amounts of tissues from marine mammals, fish and terrestrial wild game, the Inuit are more exposed to these contaminants than populations living in southern regions. Mercury and lead mainly affect the nervous system and can cause cognitive, behavioural and motor impairment in children and adults. The major health risk associated with cadmium is renal toxicity, whereas chronic exposure can also cause anemia, bone loss and cardiovascular disease. The objectives of this study, conducted within the framework of the Nunavik Inuit Health Survey 2004, were: 1) to investigate changes in environmental contaminant exposure among the Inuit of Nunavik by updating exposure assessment, and 2) to begin monitoring emerging environmental contamin…