This Inventory of National Rural Health Research-Related Databases constitutes a component of the "Canada's Rural Communities: Understanding Rural Health and Its Determinants" study. It is meant to be a tool for rural health research. Its primary objective is to faciliate rural population health research.

Click here for the complete pdf version of the Inventory of National Rural Health Related Databases. To access individual data sheets, click on the "Data Sources" button on the menu to the left.

Secondary data sources provide the raw material from which health indicators can be created and analysis can be done, and are being used more frequently than ever in health research. The availability of such databases makes them ideal for analyzing health status and health determinants of Canadians at the population level.

An initial inventory of rural health-relevant data sources was developed as part of the study Assessing Rural Health: Toward Developing Health Indicators for Rural Canada (Pitblado, Pong, Sahai et al., 1999). Building upon this study, this Inventory of National Rural Health Research-Related Databases represents another big step toward enhancing the capacity for rural health research in Canada.

This inventory is a comprehensive review of available and relevant national data sources and has identified an extensive list of data sources in a common framework. It assesses whether the data from these sources are collected, analyzable, and/or released at appropriate geographical levels for rural health research.






Reference:
Pitblado, JR, RW Pong, A Irvine, KV Nagarajan, V Sahai, J Zelmer, L Dunikowski, and DA Pearson (1999). "Assessing Rural Health: Toward Developing Health Indicators for Rural Canada." [Report submitted to the National Health Research and Development Program, Health Canada.] Sudbury, Ontario: Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research, Laurentian University.
Available at http://www.cranhr.ca/onlrpts.html.