You might be at greater risk for cardiovascular issues depending on where you live in Ontario
It turns out that, for those living in Ontario, cardiovascular health could be partially reliant on intra-provincial geographic factors.
That's the implication of a groundbreaking new study released Monday by the Canadian Medical Association. It's major finding is that individuals in the norther part of the province have faced double the levels of cardiovascular health issues (strokes, heart attacks, etc.) compared to those living in the Greater Toronto Area.
The data for this study was obtained over a five-year period between 2008 and 2012. During that period, researchers tracked 5.5-million middle-aged adults between the ages of 40 and 79, none of whom had a history of cardiovascular disease.
For the study, Ontario was broken up into a number of different regions, which were drawn fairly proportionately to population size (e.g. more remote areas covered a larger geographic distance in order to come closer to drawing even with urban ones). Once everything was tabulated, it became overwhelmingly clear that individuals living in northern Ontario were at a much greater risk of experiencing those types of serious cardiovascular health issues than the rest of the province—save for those in the Erie region at the province's southwest tip.
Using a statistical measurement called person-years—a common metric in public health—it was established that individuals in the four worst regions (three of which were located in the north), had a rate of 4.8-5.7 incidences per 1,000 person-years. Compare that to the three healthiest regions, which ended up finishing with an average of 3.2-3.5 incidences per 1,000 persons.
Causation for this stark trend appears to have to do with access. Those living in remote areas will have a more difficult time accessing preventative services such as physicals and checks for other bodily functions.
Although there were limitations to the study—most notably the uncertainty of whether or not there were other risk factors that weren't being tracked that could have contributed to the rates being what they were—it's hard to ignore the overarching reality that there clearly is a correlation between these data collections. It's certainly something to be aware of for anyone thinking of living up north.