The belief that health results from health care is firmly ingrained
even among those who SHOULD know better. dr
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http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1086170630295&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968705899037


Jun. 2, 2004. 05:33 PM

Obesity rates higher in U.S. than Canada: Study

CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA - When it comes to obesity, American women tip the scales compared
to their Canadian sisters, a cross-border health study confirms for the
first time.

Overall, 21 per cent of Americans were obese compared with 15 per cent of
Canadians, says the study released today by Statistics Canada and the U.S.
National Center for Health Statistics.

And one in five American women reported they were obese, compared with one
in eight Canadian women.

Previous research has suggested obesity may be more prevalent in the United
States, but this is the first definitive confirmation, said Diane Finegood,
a scientific director of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research
(CIHR).

"Whenever I go down there I think, God, there really is a difference, but
this is in fact the first data I'm aware of where a survey was done at the
same time in Canada and the United States with the same questions and the
same methodology by the same people," said Finegood.

U.S. women were also more likely to suffer severe mobility problems than
those in Canada. Seven per cent of the American females reported they could
not walk, stand or climb, compared with four per cent of their Canadian
counterparts.

The study does not explain the differences between the two countries,
although Finegood said it might have to do with different levels of
physical activity.

In both countries, poor people were more likely to report health problems,
but the difference between rich and poor was much greater in the United
States.

Thirty-one per cent of Americans in the lowest income group reported their
health was only fair or poor, versus 23 per cent of low-income Canadians.

"Americans in the poorest income quintile report fair or poor health,
obesity and severe mobility impairment more frequently than their Canadian
counterparts," says the study.

The great majority in both countries - 88 per cent of Canadians and 85 per
cent of Americans - considered themselves in good, very good or excellent
health.

The similar levels of satisfaction are surprising since Americans spend
proportionately more on health, said Morris Barer, Scientific Director of
CIHR's Institute of Health Services and Policy Research.

"The general impression I took away from this is Americans seem more
satisfied to be spending a lot more money than Canadians to get equivalent
health status."

In both countries, roughly 10 per cent of the population report having
unmet health needs, but most Americans cite cost as the main barrier to
care while the Canadians tend to blame waiting lists.

Americans with medical insurance were more satisfied with their health
system than Canadians, but Americans who did not have insurance - 11 per
cent of the U.S. population - were less satisfied than Canadians, who have
universal health care.

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