Chronic Disease Clock Explanation

The numbers used in the generation of the Chronic Disease Clock are not to be used as evidence and are not actual data. Each number is a mortality percentage applied to a static estimate of the Canadian Population in 2005.

Total number of deaths per year for Canada (2001):

• Chronic Diseases - 167230
• Cardiovascular Disease - 76426
• Cancer - 64111
• Chronic Respiratory Disease - 12595
• Diabetes - 6714
• Mental Disorders - 5990
• Musculoskeletal - 1394

Footnote: Data are from Statistics Canada Health Statistics Division's Canadian annual mortality data, obtained through Health Canada's ORIUS database. Chronic diseases, for the purpose of the Chronic Disease Clock, includes the following six disease categories: Cardiovascular Disease (Circulatory Disease ICD-10 I00-I99), Cancer (Neoplasm ICD-10 C00-D48), Chronic Respiratory Disease (Respiratory Disease ICD-10 J00-J98 minus Pneumonia ICD-10 J12-J18, minus Influenza ICD-10 J10-J11 and minus Bronchitis ICD-10 J40-J42), Diabetes (ICD-10 E10-E14), Mental Disorders (ICD-10 F00-F89), and Musculoskeletal (ICD-10 M00-M99).

Using actual annual mortality data converted as a percentage of Statistics Canada's estimate of the 2005 population of 32,078,819. www.statscan.ca; the following mortality rate percentages are created:

• Chronic Diseases - 0.52131 %
• Cardiovascular Disease - 0.23824 %
• Cancer - 0.19985 %
• Chronic Respiratory Disease - 0.03926 %
• Diabetes - 0.02092 %
• Mental Disorders - 0.01867 %
• Musculoskeletal - 0.00435 %

These percentages are then applied to generate an estimate of current cumulative deaths, based on the time elapsed since January 1, 2005.