Higher income and education levels lead to better health, according to a recent My Health, My Community survey of 1,078 Sunshine Coasters.
“Income is huge,” public health officer Paul Martiquet said while presenting the results at a Health Matters forum held June 4 at the Seaside Centre.
“In every quintile, as your income goes up, so does how you responded to questions like how much screen time, for example, you have in a day. That goes down as income goes up. How much exercise do you get? That goes up as income goes up. How do you rate your stress in your life? That goes down as income goes up.”
Martiquet said similar positive health benefits could also be seen with higher education levels.
“When we strategize the results of over 1,000 Sunshine Coasters we find that those who are highly educated have less risk-taking behaviour, for example,” Martiquet said.
Vancouver Coastal Health, Fraser Health and the University of British Columbia conducted the survey between June 2013 and July 2014. Of those Coasters who responded, a total of 48 per cent said they were either not in the labour force or unemployed.
About 34 per cent of respondents said they managed their households on less than $40,000 a year while 36 per cent said they were in the $40,000 to $79,999 range, 20 per cent were in the $80,000 to $119,999 range and about 11 per cent said they were bringing in $120,000 or more a year.
On the education front, eight per cent said they didn’t graduate high school, 26 per cent had a high school diploma, 43 per cent had a post-secondary certificate or diploma, and 23 per cent had a university degree.
Among other trends from the report, Martiquet drew attention to the fact that Coasters reported themselves as being slightly more obese than others who took the survey in the coastal rural area, and that they had higher instances of reported chronic illness.
About 24 per cent of Coasters reported having high blood pressure (compared to 19 per cent in coastal rural), nine per cent reported having heart disease (compared to six per cent in coastal rural), and 10 per cent reported having multiple chronic illnesses (compared to eight per cent in coastal rural).
Martiquet noted obesity and higher rates of seniors living on the Coast likely attributed to the spikes.
Of the Coast respondents to the My Health, My Community survey, 51 per cent were between the ages of 40 and 64, 30 per cent were 65 or older, and 19 per cent were between the ages of 18 and 39.
On the positive side, the survey noted fewer people smoke cigarettes on the Coast than in the rest of the coastal rural health care area (nine per cent as compared to 10 per cent) and more people locally report their mental health as excellent or very good (66 per cent compared to 63 per cent).
While there is room for improvement, Martiquet said he was pleased with the survey results.
“In 1996 we did a survey and when I compare, for example, how people rate their overall health, ‘very good or excellent,’ we’re getting about 50 per cent now. Back then we were only getting 30 per cent, so we’re moving in the right direction. Hopefully two years from now we’ll see even better things,” Martiquet said.
Full survey results for the Sunshine Coast are available online at www.myhealthmycommunity.org
