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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Jul 15.
Published in final edited form as: J SOGC. 2001 Jan;23(1):54–68.

TABLE 4. CHILDREN AND YOUTH: SPECIFIC HEALTH PROBLEMS OF SIGNIFICANCE.

“Children bring love, respect, caring, and sharing to their families … youth bring activity and zest for life.” 65

Respiratory tract infections16,77
Asthma16
Complicated otitis media
  • By age five years, a quarter of children in Nunavut have significant hearing loss in at least one ear

Skin conditions77
Accidental injuries
  • Rate of death from injury among Aboriginal teenagers age 15 to 19 years is three times greater than the Canadian average (176 vs. 48 per 100,000)6

Diabetes
  • Increasing prevalence in the Sioux Lookout region among First Nations children age 7–15 years— up to 2.5 per 1000 in 199478

Smoking
  • In a survey of Cree children residing in northern Quebec, 51.4% of children ages 11 through 18 were classified as current smokers16

  • 72% of Aboriginal individuals age 20–24 were smokers16

Substance abuse
  • One study of a central midwest city in Canada found a greater proportion of Native youth reported use of LSD, marijuana, solvents, and other hallucinogens compared to non-Native youth. Rates of alcohol use were similar6

  • A survey of youth on 25 Manitoba reserves revealed a 20% prevalence of solvent abuse. The median age of use was 12 years, however, sniffing was reported in children as young as 4 years6

Suicide
  • Suicide rate in the 15 to 24-year-old age group is 6 times the national average23

Dental caries
  • 89% of 12-year-old and 95% of 6-year-old Aboriginal children suffered from dental caries in a 1996 national survey51