New Resources

Health PCCF+(Geocodes/PCCF Version 3C)

PCCF+ is an automated system that uses postal codes to assign census geography to health records. It is based on the latest Postal Code Conversion File and the Postal Code Population Weight File produced by the Geography Division of Statistics Canada. PCCF+ uses weights to allocate postal codes linked to multiple enumeration areas according to the distribution of population using a given postal code. For postal codes that do not match exactly to PCCF, the first two or three characters of the postal code are used to assign partial geographic identifiers to the extent possible. PCCF+ also generates full diagnostic and reference information for the records coded.

This is the system used for small-area coding by the Health Statistics Division of Statistics Canada, the Canadian Cancer Registries and selected Canadian Vital Statistics registries.

For authorized university research and teaching purposes, Health PCCF+ is now available under the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI). On the DLI FTP site, the filenames are shown in the directory -/health/pccf-fccp. For general information on the DLI, including contact persons at each participating university, see the Statistics Canada Web site: <www.statcan.ca> (Education resources / Data Liberation Initiative).

Vital Statistics Data from Statistics Canada

Revival of printed catalogues for 1996 and 1997 data years

Seven former catalogued publications on vital statistics were cancelled last year due to low sales (as opposed to use in depository libraries). However, for the 1996 and 1997 data years only, they will be available as "shelf tables" from the Health Statistics Division ($20 each; telephone: (613) 951-1746; fax: (613) 951-0792; e-mail: macdgar@statcan.ca). These products carry identifying numbers like those of the former catalogues, except for using "F0" in the place of the hyphen and the addition of an "XPB" extension at the end (for bilingual format on paper). For example, catalogue 84-209 becomes catalogue 84F0209-XPB. The following items are currently available, or will be available when indicated.

There are currently no plans to issue corresponding paper products for the 1998 data year.

Health Indicators CD-ROM

Health Indicators has become a CD-ROM product (catalogue no 82-221-XCB; $100) and has expanded considerably in scope. The most recent issue contains the following vital statistics data.

• 1996 birth, death and stillbirth data in multidimensional tables (B20/20 format, downloadable)

• 1996 and 1997 tables on causes of death (detailed causes and summary list) with content equivalent to the former causes of death publications (catalogue nos 84-208 and 84-209, but in B20/20 format, downloadable)

This product also contains lots of other health data that are not from vital statistics.

Other

The new Compendium of Vital Statistics (catalogue no 84-214-XPE/XPF; $45), with data to 1996, is planned for late October release. There are no plans to publish this for the 1997 data year.

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