Map of the Week: Ontario registered organ donors

ANDREW STAWICKI/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Map: Ontario registered organ donors by postal code, February 2010

This week's map looks at rates of organ donor registration in Ontario. A link to a fully interactive version is above. The results are discussed more fully in an article in today's paper..

The map shows that Ontario residents sign up for the province's organ donor registry at very different rates, and that the rates show clear geographic patterns.

Parts of the GTA have have very low rates. The pattern is dramatic. The lowest-ranking 50 postal codes out of about 500 in all Ontario all cluster in northwest Toronto and the nearby part of Vaughan, and in Scarborough and the nearby part of Markham:

By contrast, northeastern Ontario shows far higher rates, with a belt stretching from Muskoka through Sudbury and North Bay and north of Lake Superior showing rates over 30%. A top 10 list of Ontario's 500-odd postal codes includes two different neighbourhoods in Timmins and two different neighbourhoods in North Bay.

These are real regional differences with sharply defined clusters. The question is: what lies behind them? At first I wondered whether it was local differences in the approach taken when health cards are renewed, but apparently this is supposed to be done uniformly across the province.

So these are real choices, rooted in a complicated mix of attitudes about death, the body, strangers, medicine and so forth.

(What was your experience when you renewed your health card? Let us know in the comments.)

---

Within Toronto, the city generally has rates under 10%, except for the inverted-T shape of the older neighbourhoods of the former City of Toronto, which have rates between 10 and 20%. York Region has rates below 10% south of a line more or less at King-Vaughan Road and Stouffville Road, and between 10-20% north of that. Much of Oakville has rates over 20%.

The Hamilton area has generally higher rates, with Dundas, Ancaster and the downtown neighbourhood south of Main St. W. showing rates over 30%.

---

Here is a top 20 list:

1	P1C	43.80%	Northern North Bay
2	P2A	40.00%	Parry Sound
3	P3G	39.80%	North shore of Georgian Bay E of Killarney
4	P1A	39.20%	Southern North Bay
5	P4P	38.00%	Northern Timmins
6	P9N	36.91%	East of Kenora
7	P0H	36.80%	Upper Ottawa Valley, outskirts of North Bay
8	P4R	35.99%	Western Timmins
9	P7J	35.88%	South of Thunder Bay
10	P0G	35.69%	Georgian Bay shore north of Parry Sound
11	P0C	35.48%	South of Parry Sound
12	P3E	35.48%	Southern Sudbury and area to the south
13	P3Y	35.35%	West of Sudbury
14	P4N	35.13%	Central Timmins, area to the west
15	P2B	34.27%	West Nipissing (W of North Bay)
16	P3L	34.26%	Northwest of Sudbury
17	P0N	34.22%	East of Timmins
18	P3B	34.08%	Western Sudbury
19	P3A	33.94%	Northwestern Sudbury
20	P3N	33.88%	North of Sudbury

and a bottom 20 list:

484	M1W	5.20%	Toronto: Northwest corner of Scarborough
485	M3M	5.19%	Toronto: Central Downsview
486	M6B	5.18%	Toronto: Glencairn/Allen area
487	M1B	5.14%	Toronto: Malvern
488	M6M	4.92%	Toronto: Keelesdale/Mount Dennis
489	M1X	4.86%	Toronto: Morningside Heights
490	M1S	4.86%	Toronto: Agincourt
491	M9M	4.84%	Toronto: Weston Rd-Shepphard area
492	M3K	4.83%	Toronto: Eastern Downsview
493	L4K	4.74%	Vaughan: Keele/Langstaff area
494	L3S	4.61%	Markham: Markham Rd/14thSt area
495	L4J	4.42%	Vaughan: Centre St/Bathurst area
496	M1V	4.29%	Toronto: Milliken area
497	M3L	4.27%	Toronto: Western Downsview
498	M4H	3.99%	Toronto: Thorncliffe Park
499	M9V	4.00%	Toronto: Rexdale
500	L4L	4.00%	Woodbridge
501	M9L	3.80%	Toronto: Humber Summit
502	M6L	3.80%	Toronto: NW of Black Creek/Lawrence
503	M3N	3.50%	Toronto: Jane/Finch

The data was released by the Ministry of Health under access-to-information laws.

Each FSA has an individual graphic, like this one:

Map of the Week: Bedbug reports

Map: 2009 bedbug reports

---

This week's map looks at bedbug problems reported to Toronto's public health department as a rate per 1,000 households by postal code.

The map shows a clear pattern, with bedbugs concentrated in a cluster of neighbourhoods in the east downtown, and then stretching into the east end as far as southwestern Scarborough. Parkdale also has high rates.

Shoreline Etobicoke and the Jane/Finch-Black Creek areas are also afflicted, at a lower level. The Annex, the Junction/High Park and Cedarvale also pop out on the map as one-offs.

The data was released by the City of Toronto in response to an access-to-information request.

Map of the Week: Smoking, redux

STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR

Maps:

Small (1000x540)

Medium (1200x700)

Large (1600x700)

---

One of the limitations on our online mapping projects has been that maps with large numbers of polygons (or two-dimensional shapes, as seen in a map of city neighbourhoods) are slow to display, especially in IE. Another was that the polygons themselves had to be created by hand. This meant that the 200-odd postal codes in the GTA were about the outer limit of what we could display. More ambitious maps, like one depicting all the electoral districts in the province, were impractical both for us to create and for a reader to load.

So I was delighted when Sanjay Singh of Pitney Bowes Business Insight approached us with alternative way of creating this kind of map which elegantly solves both problems. Without going into the details, it involves two techniques which I had tried at different times but not together, which turns out to be the key.

For the first week of Map of the Week 2.0, we have a map showing smoking patterns in the GTA (unfortunately not including Durham for now) by census tract. Just over a thousand areas are represented. This map loads much more quickly than our .xml format in Firefox and IE, but if there are any unexpected issues please let us know in the comments.

The map shows average annual expenditure on smoking.

Back in August, we created a smoking map covering the whole province by health region (identical to city/county/regional municipality in most cases). That map showed a concentration of smokers in rural and northern areas, and the GTA map shows something of the same pattern within our own region.

Rural/deep suburban regions spend much more on tobacco than the rest of the GTA, with the highest tobacco spending being around Kettleby. There is a pocket of very low tobacco spending in northern Brampton, interestingly.

Within Toronto, Lawrence Park, Hogg's Hollow, chunks of Forest Hill and the Bridle Path all have higher-than average tobacco spending, while the traditional low-income V seems to have lower rates. Looking more closely at neighbourhoods, there does seem to be a rough positive correlation between income and tobacco spending.

Toronto flu clinics

Toronto's public health department today (October 21) announced 10 locations where the H1N1 vaccination will be available. Operating times can be found here. Here is a map:
View Toronto flu clinics in a larger map

Map of the Week: Death

SIMON HAYTER/TORONTO STAR

Map: Average age at death, 2006

After our four-week series on birth, we turn to death.

This week's map looks at the differences in average age at death in 192 areas across the GTA.

Within the City of Toronto, we see a rough relationship between income and lifespan. High average ages at death cluster along the high-income Yonge St. corridor with pockets in Hillcrest Village and the Kingsway, while low average ages cluster in traditionally poor neighbourhoods in parts of the west end and east downtown. In Halton and Peel, we see generally longer average lifespans along the lake shore.

Here are the top 10 neighbourhoods for average lifespan:

M6A	Lawrence Manor/Lawrence Heights	83.4
L6B	Eastern Markham	82.75
M5N	SE of Lawrence/Bathurst	81.97
M4N	Lawrence Park	81.16
L5K	Mississauga, Dundas and Winston Churchill	80.77
M8X	The Kingsway	80.76
M5P	Annex	80.62
M2L	E York Mills	80.33
M5R	Annex	80.27
M4T	Moore Park	80.15

and the 10 lowest:

L4P	Georgina Township/Keswick	67.97
L3X	SW Newmarket	67.52
L4E	Temperanceville (Vaughan/King)	67.01
M1B	Malvern	66.44
L5N	Mississauga: Winston Churchill/Derry Rd area	66.43
L1K	Northeastern Oshawa	66.34
L6R	W Brampton: Wanless/Mississauga Rd area	65.94
L4T	Malton	65.33
L7A	W Brampton: Wanless/Mississauga Rd area	63.6
M5A	Regent Park/St Lawrence/Corktown	63.32

Postal codes with fewer than 50 deaths excluded

The second table includes a number of deep suburban and rural neighbourhoods and only one really urban one, which leads me to wonder if there's a link to sedentary lifestyles. It reminds me of the Toronto diabetes study from a number of years ago which found higher rates in low-density neighbourhoods in Toronto. (article link)

Map(s) of the Week: Childbirth, week 4

TARA WALTON/TORONTO STAR

This week winds up our series on childbirth in the GTA with a look at homebirth and midwifery.

The information comes from data I bought from the Office of the Registrar-General, which was taken from the Statement of Live Birth form (.pdf) which is filled out when a child is born in Ontario. 

All the maps are based on the first three characters of the postal code of the mother, and show data from 2007, the most recent year available. Postal codes with fewer than 30 births have been dropped from the map this week.

Birth: Percentage of homebirths, 2007

Birth: Percentage of babies delivered by midwives, 2007

No distinction is made on the form between planned and unplanned homebirths.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the maps look roughly similar, with strong clusters in the old east and west ends of the central city, the west-end cluster being bigger. The midwifery map has a cluster in northern York Region roughly along the 400, and another in Burlington.

Here are the top 10 neighbourhoods for midwife-delivered babies:

M6R	Toronto: High Park/Roncesvalles	13.88%
M6G	Toronto: Little Italy: Seaton Village	12.87%
L9N	East Gwillimbury: Holland Landing	11.39%
M6S	Toronto: Bloor West Village/Swansea	10.17%
M4M	Toronto: South Riverdale	10.13%
M6P	Toronto: Bloor West Village/High Park	9.65%
M6H	Toronto: Trinity/Niagara	9.16%
M4L	Toronto: Leslieville/western Beaches	8.89%
M4J	Toronto: Trinity/Niagara	8.84%
M5C	Toronto: Jarvis/Queen/Yonge/King	8.82%

and the top 10 for homebirths:

M6R	Toronto: High Park/Roncesvalles	6.12%
L1W	Pickering: lakeshore area	6.00%
M5C	Toronto: Jarvis/Queen/Yonge/King	5.88%
M5B	Toronto: Ryerson area	5.19%
M6H	Toronto: Ossington/St. Clair/tracks/Dufferin	5.09%
M4M	Toronto: South Riverdale	5.06%
M4L	Toronto: North Toronto (N of Eglinton/Mount Pleasant)	4.65%
M6G	Toronto: Little Italy: Seaton Village	4.62%
M4P	Toronto: North Toronto (N of Eglinton/Mount Pleasant)	4.49%
M6P	Toronto: Bloor West Village/High Park	4.31%

For simplicity’s sake, the data order I placed with the Registrar-General covered the L- and M-series postal codes, which roughly works out to all of south-central Ontario, including Hamilton, Niagara and the area stretching north to Georgian Bay. The maps haven’t shown areas outside the GTA*, but I’ve been keeping an eye on that data.

Last week (Map: No other parent listed, 2007), I probably should have pointed out that two Hamilton neighbourhoods (L8L, more or less the North End, and adjoining L8M, a box bounded by Main St. E./the escarpment/Upper Wentworth/Ottawa Street) also have very high rates of single motherhood, and would have made a top 10 list if we were depicting all of south-central Ontario.

This week, the data shows that the Hamilton area has a much higher rate of midwife deliveries than anywhere else in south-central Ontario. Here is the top 10 list for midwife deliveries, if we look at this whole area (.pdf):

L9G	Suburban (non-rural) Ancaster	18.52%
L9H	Dundas	15.81%
L8S	Hamilton: McMaster/Westdale area	15.70%
L8P	Hamilton: 403/escarpment/King/James	15.68%
L8R	Hamilton: Roughly 403/King/James/harbour	14.06%
M6R	Toronto: High Park/Roncesvalles	13.88%
L2S	East Gwillimbury: Holland Landing	12.90%
M6G	Toronto: Little Italy: Seaton Village	12.87%
L9N	East Gwillimbury: Holland Landing	11.39%
L0S	Niagara Region: Eastern rural areas	11.37%

**

Here is the equivalent home birth table:

M6R	Toronto: High Park/Roncesvalles	6.12%
L1W	Pickering: lakeshore area	6.00%
M5B	Toronto: Ryerson area	5.19%
M6H	Toronto: Ossington/St. Clair/tracks/Dufferin	5.09%
M4M	Toronto: South Riverdale	5.06%
L0A	Northumberland County: western area	4.76%
L3C	Toronto: Little Italy: Seaton Village	4.71%
M4L	Toronto: Leslieville/western Beaches	4.65%
M6G	Toronto: Little Italy: Seaton Village	4.62%
M4P	Toronto: North Toronto (N of Eglinton/Mount Pleasant)	4.49%

**

I'm conscious with all these map projects that there are readers who know far more about any given subject than I do - I'm just a guy with some data and some tools. Here are some questions for readers:

1) Looking at this data, there seems to be a greater proportion of hospital deliveries by midwives outside the central city (in Hamilton and York Region, for example), and a greater proportion of home births downtown. Is there a reason? Both of our children were born at home in Riverdale, and I found it reassuring that if anything went wrong there were major hospitals within easy reach. Does it have to do with closeness to hospitals, or cultural differences between midwife practices?

2) In Toronto, the map of midwife deliveries roughly tracks the location of midwife practices. (map: zoom in to see Toronto in detail). Is this supply, demand, or something of both?

---

* There are several reasons. One is that the boundaries on the maps have to be built by hand in a labour-intensive process, and adding postal areas outside the GTA would have involved creating another 67 polygons, or two-dimensional shapes. Another is that the maps are slow to load as it is (especially in IE) and I’m reluctant to slow them down further. Another is that several areas (Dufferin County and Niagara) have rural postal codes which completely enclose urban postal codes, and the XML system we’re using doesn’t allow for doughnut polygons (I’m aware that conventional geoKML does and and also GoogleMaps v3, as of this week).

** Two low-population postal codes excluded

Map(s) of the Week: Childbirth, week 3

SHUTTERSTOCK

Map: No other parent listed, 2007

This week continues our series on childbirth in the GTA.

The information comes from data I bought from the Office of the Registrar-General, which was taken from the Statement of Live Birth form (.pdf) which is filled out when a child is born in Ontario. 

All the maps are based on the first three characters of the postal code of the mother, and show data from 2007, the most recent year available.

This week's map looks at single mothers, by showing the percentage of 2007 births where a father/other parent wasn't listed on the Statement of Live Birth.

The most striking thing about this map is the solid block roughly along Black Creek Drive and the 400, where six postal areas side by side all have rates over 10%.

High rates are also found in the east downtown and South Riverdale, the Chinatown/Kensington Market area, and the West Hill/Guildwood area of Scarborough. Rates are lower in the Yonge St. corridor and the 905 generally except (relatively) for downtown Oshawa, northwest Caledon and the Steeles/Kennedy Road area of Brampton.

Here are the 10 highest:

M3N	Jane-Finch	16.20%
M5T	Kensington Market/Chinatown	15.66%
M3L	W Downsview	14.66%
M1E	West Hill/Guildwood	10.89%
M5A	Regent Park/St Lawrence/Corktown	10.72%
M3M	Central Downsview	10.59%
M9M	Weston	10.49%
M4M	South Riverdale	10.44%
M6L	401/Jane/Lawrence/CNR	10.32%
M6M	Keelesdale/Mount Dennis	10.09%

Map(s) of the Week: Childbirth, week 2

STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR

Map: Average number of previous children, 2007

Map: Average birth weight, 2007

Map: Average length of pregnancy, 2007

This week continues our series on childbirth in the GTA.

The information comes from data I bought from the Office of the Registrar-General, which was taken from the Statement of Live Birth form (.pdf) which is filled out when a child is born in Ontario. 

All the maps are based on the first three characters of the postal code of the mother, and show data from 2007, the most recent year available.

This week's maps look at: average number of mother’s previous children; average length of pregnancy in weeks; and average birth weight in grams.

---

The central city, more or less the former City of Toronto minus the east downtown, has fairly low numbers of previous children (map), and the core plus the Annex and Kensington has a lower rate still. My assumption here is that first births are more common among a younger population.

Higher numbers are recorded in Thorncliffe Park, two postal codes around Lawrence and the Allan, Jane/Finch and Rexdale, and two postal codes around Dixon Rd. and Islington.

Here are the 10 highest:

M6A	Lawrence Manor/Lawrence Heights	2.43
M9R	Willowridge/The Westway/Richview (E of 401/427)	2.25
L5K	Mississauga, Dundas and Winston Churchill	2.24
L0J	Kleinburg	2.17
M3N	Jane/Finch	2.13
M4H	Thorncliffe Park	2.11
M9P	SE of Islington/401	2.11
M1G	Golfdale Gardens (Golf Club Rd/Lawrence)	2.08
M5N	SE of Lawrence/Bathurst	2.07
L7K	NW Caledon	2.04

and 10 lowest:

M5R	Annex	1.46
M2K	York Mills	1.45
M2N	SW of 401/Bayview	1.45
M4Y	Church/Wellesley	1.44
M5E	St. Lawrence	1.4
L7S	Burlington N of Skyway	1.38
M5J	Lakeshore condos/Island	1.27
M5V	West downtown, Niagara	1.26
M5C	Yonge/King/Jarvis/Queen	1.21
M5H	North of downtown financial district	1.09

---

The birth weight map shows high birth weights in the outer 905 generally (scroll the map out) and in some downtown neighbourhoods: the Beaches, Riverdale, Bloor West Village/Swansea, Bloor West Village/High Park and Rosedale. The pale blue on the average length of pregnancy map, showing somewhat shorter pregnancies, very roughly tracks the check-mark shape of low-income areas in Toronto.

Here are the top 10:

L1Y	North Pickering	3572.18
L0C	Scugog	3555.28
L7B	King City	3525.37
L1B	Newcastle	3514.13
M5C	Yonge/King/Jarvis/Queen	3507.41
L0H	North Pickering	3506.4
L1E	Courtice	3501.35
L0P	Campbellville and area	3495.75
L9P	Uxbridge	3495.34
L0B	E Scugog	3487.62

and the bottom 10:

L3S	14th Ave/Markham Rd in Markham	3214.52
M1L	Oakridge/Clairlea (southeast Scarborough)	3213.59
L5C	Erindale	3209.99
M4A	Victoria Village	3203.64
M1X	NE Scarborough	3202.71
L4T	Malton	3199.48
M1C	SE Scarborough	3196.52
M3N	Jane/Finch	3193.44
M5G	Yonge/College/University/Queen	3189.46
M1G	Golfdale Gardens (Golf Club Rd/Lawrence)	3188.11

---

As with the birth weight map, the outer 905 has longer average pregnancies, along with some neighbourhoods in the central city: the downtown condos, Rosedale, Bloor West Village/Swansea, Bloor West Village/High Park and the U of T area.  

Here are the top 10:

M5H	North of downtown financial district	39.55
M5V	West downtown, Niagara	39.29
L1Y	North Pickering	39.27
M5J	Lakeshore condos/Island	39.26
M4W	Rosedale	39.15
M5C	Yonge/King/Jarvis/Queen	39.15
L0C	Scugog	39.13
L6K	SW Oakville	39.13
M6P	Bloor West Village/High Park	39.11
L0H	North Pickering	39.1

and the bottom 10:

M2L	E York Mills	38.49
M6L	401/Jane/Lawrence/CNR	38.48
L6Y	SW Brampton	38.47
M1E	West Hill/Guildwood	38.47
M3L	W Downsview	38.47
M3B	Bridle Path/Don Mills	38.45
L1Z	Ajax	38.44
L1L	NE Oshawa	38.42
L0J	Kleinburg	38.28
M1C	SE Scarborough	38.28

Map(s) of the Week: Childbirth, week 1

TARA WALTON/TORONTO STAR

Map: Average age of mother, 2007

Map: Average age of father/other parent, 2007

Map: Parental age difference, 2007

This week begins a four-part series on childbirth in the GTA. (It will be followed by a shorter series on death.)

The information comes from data I bought from the Office of the Registrar-General, which was taken from the Statement of Live Birth form (.pdf) which is filled out when a child is born in Ontario. 

All the maps are based on the first three characters of the postal code of the mother, and show data from 2007, the most recent year available.

This week's maps look at parental age at birth: average age of mother, average age of father/other parent, and the average age difference.

---

First, the average age of mothers (map).These are not necessarily first births, just births occurring in 2007.

The map itself shows a striking pattern, with high maternal ages in a belt between Yonge and Leslie south of the 401, and low maternal ages in another belt to the west roughly between Keele and Weston Road and northwest into Rexdale. In Peel, maternal ages are higher along the Mississauga waterfront, lower away from the lakeshore, and lower still in Brampton.

Here are the top ten neighbourhoods for average maternal age:

M8X	The Kingsway	35.19
M4G	Leaside	34.54
M4N	Lawrence Park	34.29
M4V	Casa Loma/southern Forest Hill	34.29
M4T	Moore Park	34.22
M3B	Bridle Path/Don Mills	34.09
M4R	Lytton Park	34.05
M4W	Rosedale	34.03
M2P	York Ridge/St. Andrew’s	34.02
L6J	Southeast Oakville	33.81

and the lowest 10:

M9M	Weston	29.1
L4T	Malton	29.07
M3N	Jane-Finch	29.06
L6W	South-central Brampton	29.01
M6M	Keelesdale/Mount Dennis	28.95
L6T	Bramalea	28.92
L0E	Georgina Township/Sutton	28.84
L1G	North-central Oshawa	28.44
L1H	Southeastern Oshawa	27.74
L1J	Southwestern Oshawa	27.65

---

The average age of father/other parent map shows a strikingly similar pattern.

Eight out of the top ten areas for father/other parent age are also on the table we just saw, with M8X (The Kingsway) topping both lists. The same three Oshawa neighbourhoods are on the bottom of both lists, in the same order:

M8X	The Kingsway	38.08
M3B	Bridle Path/Don Mills	37.13
M4W	Rosedale	36.87
M2P	York Ridge/St. Andrew’s	36.68
M4N	Lawrence Park	36.68
L0J	Kleinburg	36.6
M4T	Moore Park	36.59
L6J	Southeast Oakville	36.44
M4V	Casa Loma/southern Forest Hill	36.43
M6R	High Park/Roncesvalles	36.37

Here are the lowest 10:

L1K	Northeastern Oshawa	32.24
M3K	East Downsview	32.03
L1E	Courtice	32.01
L4P	Georgina Township/Keswick	31.74
L0E	Georgina Township/Sutton	31.5
L1C	Bowmanville	31.32
M5H	North of downtown financial district	31
L1G	North-central Oshawa	30.79
L1H	Southeastern Oshawa	30.61
L1J	Southwestern Oshawa	30.49

---

The map of parental age difference does show a pattern, in that there is a cluster of low age difference in the north-central part of the city, and high age differences concentrated in the northwest, the east downtown and Thorncliffe Park, and much of Scarborough. The 905 is more uniform.

In all 194 GTA postal areas, the average age of the father was higher than the average age of the mother.

Here are the highest 10:

M4H	Thorncliffe Park	5.97
M3N	Jane-Finch	4.95
M9R	Willowridge/The Westway/Richview (E of 401/427)	4.91
M1L	Oakridge/Clairlea (southeast Scarborough)	4.9
L5K	Mississauga, Dundas and Winston Churchill	4.87
M1G	Golfdale Gardens (Golf Club Rd/Lawrence)	4.77
M6M	Keelesdale/Mount Dennis	4.71
M1P	Scarborough Town Centre	4.67
M4X	St. Jamestown	4.65
M3J	Keele/Finch	4.64

and the lowest 10:

L1C	Bowmanville	2.02
L1K	Northeastern Oshawa	1.98
L7P	Northwest Burlington	1.96
M3K	East Downsview	1.95
M4R	Lytton Park	1.86
L1Y	North Pickering	1.82
M4G	Leaside	1.75
L0P	Campbellville and area	1.64
L1M	Rural north Whitby	1.58
M5H	North of downtown financial district	0.91

Map of the Week: Obesity

TORONTO STAR FILE

This week's map also uses data from the Canadian Community Health Survey, this time looking at obesity in Ontario by health region.

In many ways, it resembles last week's smoking map: northern and rural communities at the top, medium-sized cities in the middle, and urban areas at the bottom.

The top five are:
1) Northwestern
2) Porcupine
3) Hastings and Prince Edward
4) Huron
5) Timiskaming

The bottom five are:
32) Halton
33) York Region
34) City of Ottawa
35) Peel Region
36) City of Toronto

The map uses 2005 data.

---

View obesity in a larger map

Percentage	Colour
20 and above
17.5-20
15-17.5
Under 15

Key added Aug 17

Map of the Week: Smoking

REUTERS

I've been wanting to do a smoking-related map for a while, but couldn't see where the data would come from. Then a reader pointed me to the Community Health Survey's smoking study, which breaks down Ontario by public health regions, which more or less correspond to the borders of major municipalities (city/region/county/district, depending on where in the province you are).

The map shows the percentage of residents over 12 who reported being daily smokers in the most recent year available, which was 2005.

The very strong pattern the map shows is high smoking rates in rural and northern areas, lower rates in small cities, and very low rates in large cities: Windsor, London, K-W, the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa.

Haldimand-Norfolk and Elgin, both on the top five list, are home to Ontario's remaining tobacco farms.

The top five are:
1) Haldimand-Norfolk
2) Porcupine
3) Hastings and Prince Edward
4) Leeds, Grenville and Lanark
5) Elgin

The bottom five are:
32) Middlesex-London
33) City of Ottawa
34) City of Toronto
35) York Region
36) Perth

View smoking in a larger map

Map: Swine flu in Ontario

Map updated December 12.

This map, created from the most recent swine flu update from the Ministry of Health issued December 11, shows the 8,633 known cases in the province. We now are noting the new cases for the week by region.

Maps: Patient safety in hospitals

The Ministry of Health released a new set of patient safety indicators today, measuring hospital performance in eight areas: clostridium difficile associated disease, Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococcis (VRE), hospital-standardized mortality ratio (HSMR), central-line primary bloodstream infection (CLI), ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), surgical site infection prevention and 'hand hygiene compliance,' which refers to consistent hand washing by health care workers.

This last has been given a new urgency by the spread of a new strain of swine flu or, as the World Health Organization now calls it, 'influenza A (H1N1)'.

Megan Ogilvie's story is here.

---

Today, we map two of these indicators: hand washing and C. difficile. As always, click on an icon or zoom on for information:

Hand hygiene compliance: Apr 01, 2008 - Mar 31, 2009

Clostridium Difficile Associated Disease (CDAD) Mar 01 - Mar 31, 2009

---

Here is the complete data for all GTA hospitals:

Ajax And Pickering Hospital Site - ROUGE VALLEY HEALTH SYSTEM

Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care

Bloorview Kids Rehab

Brampton Civic Hospital Site

Bridgepoint Hospital

Casey House Hospice

Centenary Hospital Site - ROUGE VALLEY HEALTH SYSTEM

College Street Site - CAMH

Credit Valley Hospital (The)

Etobicoke General Hospital Site

Georgetown Hospital Site - HALTON HEALTHCARE SERVICES

Hillcrest Hospital - TORONTO REHAB INST

Hospital For Sick Children

Humber Memorial Hospital Site (Church Site)

Lakeridge Health - Bowmanville Site

Lakeridge Health - Oshawa Site

Lakeridge Health - Port Perry Site

Lakeridge Health- Whitby Site

Lyndhurst Hospital Site - TORONTO REHAB INST

Markham Stouffville Hospital

Markham Stouffville Hospital - Cottage Hospital Site

Milton District Hospital Site - HALTON HEALTHCARE SERVICES

Mount Sinai Hospital

North York General Hospital

Northwestern General Hospital Site (Psychiatric Unit Only)

Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Site - HALTON HEALTHCARE SERVICES

Princess Margaret Hospital Site

Providence Healthcare

Queen Street Site - CAMH

Runnymede Healthcare Centre

Salvation Army Grace Hospital

Scarborough General Hospital

Scarborough Salvation Army Grace Hospital

Southlake Regional Health Centre

St John's Rehabilitation Hospital

St Joseph's Health Centre - Toronto

St Michael's Hospital

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre - Orthopaedic And Arthritic Hospital Site

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre - Women's College Hospital Site

Toronto East General Hospital (The)

Toronto General Hospital Site

Toronto Western Hospital Site

Trillium Health Centre - Mississauga

Trillium Health Centre - West Toronto

University Centre Site - TORONTO REHAB INST

West Park Healthcare Centre

Whitby Mental Health Centre

York Central Hospital

York-Finch General Hospital Site

Maps: Hepatitis

Map: Hepatitis B

Map: Hepatitis C

This week, we continue our disease series by looking at hepatitis B and C.

Hepatitis B (map) clusters in a stretch of downtown south of Bloor stretching east from Bathurst, and across the Don into south Riverdale. In the suburbs, there is a cluster centred more or less on Warden and Steeles, between Bayview and Markham Rd.

Hepatitis C (map) has three clusters - the east downtown through south Riverdale, the Beaches and eastern East York, with Thorncliffe Park; lake shore Etobicoke generally, with an area east of Dixie Rd. north to Burnamthorpe; and the area north and west of Pearson.

Map of the Week: Food-borne disease

This week, we continue our disease series by mapping the GTA's three most common food-borne diseases:

Campylobacter enteritis (map)

Salmonellosis (map)

Yersinosis (map)

Click on the maps to see how your neighbourhood fared.

The data comes from reports sent to medical officers of health in Toronto, Peel, Halton, York and Durham sent to the Ministry of Health in 2008. The Ministry released a spreadsheet in response to an FOI request with the reported disease, the region that the report came from, and the first three characters of the postal code of the patient, which was available in most cases.

The maps show reports of cases in 2008, per 1,000 of population.

Note: These maps show the cases which are officially reported. The statistics in this morning's story are an attempt to estimate the number of cases which actually occur, based on the reported cases.