Health Statistics at a Glance Guide
What is it?
Health Statistics at a Glance is a CD-ROM product provided by Statistics Canada. It is an
integrated information product that reflects the growing demand for analysis of many
current health issues supplemented by the underlying data. It is used for administration,
policy, and research and planning. There are three major components of this product, they
include: The Statistical Report on the Health of Canadians, 17 Health Reports articles, cited in the
Statistical Report, and all of the components of Health Indicators, including
causes of death.
Terminology
Beyond 20/20: Software designed to help non-specialist users manipulate
tabular data. Becoming widely used by Statistics Canada
and other government departments.
Accessing Health Statistics at a Glance
1. Insert the CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Click on the "Health Statistics" icon.
3. Select the desired language.
4. Click on "Accept" to indicate your acceptance of the license agreement. This will
activate the main screen.
Maneuvering throughout the Product
There are a set of arrows on the menu bar at the top of the screens within each application box. These arrows can help you move throughout the product efficiently and easily.
- Displays first page.
- Displays previous page.
- Displays next page.
- Displays last page.
- Goes to previous view.
- Returns to next view.
The Main Screen
The main screen opens into six application blocks.
Data Browser
Allow you to view the tables related to your search query using Beyond 20/20 browser.
1. Double-click on Data Browser box.
2. Select a category form the list provided to view only the table titles under that
particular category, e.g. Health Determinants. The titles of the tables will appear in the
box below.
If you wish to view the entire table titles available in the browser select "All" and all
the table titles will appear in the box below.
3. Click on the table title of your choice in the title box and it will appear in the Beyond
20/20 browser.
4. Exit the browser by going to "File" on the menu bar and then to "Exit".
Statistical Report
Provides a comprehensive and detailed statistical overview of the health status of Canadians and
the major determinants of that status.
Word Search (applies to other application boxes when applicable)
1. Click on the "binocular" button on the top menu.
2. Insert your search query (e.g. smoking) into the "Find That" box and click "Find". A
page-by-page search is issued for your topic. Once something is found the page is
displayed and the word is highlighted.
3. Once finished with the displayed data you can resume the search by returning to the
binocular button and click "Find Again", you can continue this until the whole
document has been searched.
Content Search
1. Use the "right arrow" in the menu to go to the Contents page (page 4).
2. Search the displayed data titles for your topic or for related topics.
3. Once a topic is found, click it with the left mouse button and the data is automatically
displayed.
4. Once finished with the data return to page 1 and then go to page 4 to continue the
search.
Hint: Be cautious because your exact word may not be available but related topics maybe
there. For example, when looking for "smoking", notice that topic 41 is "Nicotine
Dependence", a topic closely related but may have been overlooked by a word search.
NOTE: Links are sometimes available that are able to connect you to relevant tables in
Beyond 20/20 browser, see Link section of guide for details.
Health Reports Articles
Contains articles from Health Reports that provide high quality, relevant and comprehensive information of the health status of the Canadian population and the health
care system.
1. Scroll down until you find an article of interest and activate it by clicking its title with
the left mouse button, the article is then displayed.
Documentation
Allows you to access the "causes of death" file. This file contains 8 tables showing the
causes of death in Canada by province, age, sex with counts, and rates. This data usually
excludes stillbirths.
1. Select the "causes of death" file and go tp the "Contents" page (page 2). Follow the
guidelines given under "Contents Search" in Statistical Report given earlier in this
guide.
About Health Statistics
Contains information about the CD-ROM and explains its uses.
Tutorials
Can instruct you on how to use Acrobat and Beyond 20/20 Browser.
1. Click on the box in the area where you need instruction and guidelines will be
presented on screen.
Links Within the Product
Where applicable Beyond 20/20 tables can be activated from the Statistical Report and
by using table titles.
1. If a table title is highlighted (e.g. blue) when viewing data it means that Beyond 20/20
contains a table(s) relevant to your topic. To activate the table in Beyond 20/20
double-click the highlighted title and it is displayed.
2. Once the browser is activated you can return to the Statistical Report by closing the
software. The original data is automatically displayed.
Tables
All tables in this product provide information on the socio-economic risk factors or
determinants of health, health status, new information on health outcomes and expanded
information on the utilization of the health care system.
1. Survey data is presented as whole numbers.
2. The symbols * and # are often used to indicate the relatively high sampling variability.
3. Tables may appear on the CANSIM cross-classified database (excludes "causes of
death" tables). Numbers are clustered into two groups: 00060100 to 00060160, and
00060200 to 00060243.
4. Tables may also appear in CANSIM time series using matrix numbers: 1001- 1006,
1011- 1013, 1020, 1084- 1097, 4263- 4282.
Sample Search
Below is a search conducted on "Smoking" that you can follow to familiarize yourself
with Health Statistics at a Glance.
1. Go to the Statistical Report and open a search, using the binocular button, on
"Smoking".
2. The contents page is automatically displayed. Smoking is highlighted in topic 12. You
can click on the highlighted word to activate the data or you can record the topic
number and then resume the search using the binocular button. You can continue this
until the whole contents page is searched.
3. While searching the contents page, topics 36, 40, and 70 are highlighted. After
recording all titles of topics you can go back and look at each one individually.
If you choose to look at the data without first searching the contents page you can
return to the page and resume the search.
4. Don't forget to scroll down through the contents page in search of related topics.
Notice that topics 13 and 41 are closely related to smoking but did not appear in the
search.
5. While viewing the data on smoking look for highlighted table titles to indicate relevant
tables in the Beyond 20/20 browser. Notice that in Topic 40 (Smoking), Table 40 has
a highlighted title. Click on it to activate the table in Beyond 20/20.
6. When finished with the Statistical Report, go to Health Reports Articles to search
for more information. Use the binocular button to conduct the search.
7. Notice that the first articles highlighted. You can click on it to view the data or you
record the title and resume the search on the contents page.
8. While searching the contents page Article Vol. 9 No. 4 (Smoking prevalence, quit
attempts, and successes) is also highlighted. If you decided to view other information
before viewing the contents page you can return to it and resume the search.
9. Again, remember to look for related topics. Notice that the article Vol. 9 No. 4 (At
first risk, or recurring heart disease), may be related and can be viewed. Click this
article and do a word search.
10. When finished here, go to Documentation, and select the "causes of death" file.
11. Do a search, using the binocular button, on smoking.
12. As you can see, no articles are found. You can attempt to search for related topics.
Further Assistance
Help files are available by clicking on "Help" in the menu bar. Or ask Staff for further assistance.
March 22, 2010
Gillian Byrne
