Objectives: A majority of population-based studies suggest prevalence of depressed mood and anxiety is most common during late adolescence to early adulthood. Mental health status has been linked previously to socio-economic status in adults. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to clarify if socio-economic status (SES) is a risk indicator of depressed mood or anxiety in youth between the ages of 10 to 15 years old.

Objectives: A majority of population-based studies suggest prevalence of drug and alcohol risk behaviour increases during late adolescence to early adulthood. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to clarify if socioeconomic status (SES) is a determinant of marijuana and alcohol risk behaviour in adolescents between the ages of 10-15 years. Methods: We performed a meta-analysis to identify published or unpublished papers between January 1, 1980 and February 9, 2007 that reviewed marijuana and alcohol risk behaviour by SES in adolescents aged 10-15 years. Synthesis: We found nine studies that fulfilled our inclusion criteria and passed the methodological quality review. The prevalence of marijuana and alcohol risk behaviour was 22% higher (RR = 1.22; 95% CI 1.14-1.31) in adolescents with low SES in comparison to adolescents with higher SES. Stratification by country of origin revealed that American and New Zealand studies had statistically significant variability in the reported effects as compared to European and UK studies. Discussion: The evidence suggests that low SES has an inverse association with the prevalence of marijuana and alcohol risk behaviour in adolescents between the ages of 10-15 years. Higher rates of marijuana and alcohol risk behaviour among lower SES adolescents may impact emotional development, limit future educational and occupational achievement, and increase the likelihood for adult marijuana and alcohol addiction. Conclusion: Lower SES adolescents have higher rates of marijuana and alcohol risk behaviour than higher SES adolescents.

No abstract

Objective: The purpose of this paper was to use a linked dataset to compare health care utilization rates and costs between income groups in Saskatoon, Canada. Methods: The Canadian Community Health Survey was linked to hospital, physician and medication data in Saskatoon. Results: Of 3,688 eligible participants, 3,433 agreed to the health survey and data linkage with health records (83.7% overall response). Low-income residents were 27-33% more likely to be hospitalized and 36-45% more likely to receive a medication than middle-and higher-income residents, but were 5-7% less likely to visit a physician over a one-year period. In comparison to middle-income residents, low-income residents had 56% more high users of hospitals, 166% more high users of physicians and 90% more high users of medications. Low-income residents had 34-35% higher health care costs overall than middle-and high-income residents. After multivariate adjustment for increased disease prevalence, low income had a reduced association with high health care utilization. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that residents with lower income are responsible for disproportionate usage of hospitals, physicians and medications; due mainly (but not entirely) to higher disease prevalence.

Objectives: Legislation to ban smoking in public places is currently a major area of interest across Canada. The main objectives of the study were to 1) determine the effect of the smoking ban on incidence of acute myocardial infarction, 2) determine if the new legislation altered population-based smoking prevalence, and 3) measure public support for the public smoking ban.