Footnotes

• [1] Prevalence: the number of instances of a given disease or other condition in a given population at a designated time (Abramson&Last, 1995)

• [2] Health indicator: a variable, susceptible to direct measurement, that reflects the state of health of persons living in a community. Examples include infant mortality rates, incidence rates based on notified cases of disease, disability days etc. (Abramson&Last, 1995)

• [3]Health determinant: any factor, whether event, characteristic, or other definable entity, that brings about change in a health condition, or other defined characteristic (Abramson&Last, 1995).

• [4] MSI: Nova Scotia's provincially administered health insurance plan, updated in 1993, in which virtually all citizens of the province are enrolled.

• [5] Age groups: 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, 75+ years old.

• [6] Cardiovascular disease (CVD): a general term for all diseases of the circulatory system. CVD includes acute myocardial infarction, ischemic heart disease, valvular heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, arrhythmias, high blood pressure, and stroke. (World Health Organization, 1977)

• [7]Activity limitation: self defined as any limitation in the kind or amount of activity respondent could do because of a long-term physical, mental, or health problem, compared to other people of the same age.

• [8]Caregiving: any type of help or care for a person with an illness, physical disability, mental handicap, mental or behavioural problem that has lasted or is expected to last 30 days or more and does not include paid or volunteer work.

• [9]Body Mass Index (BMI): a healthy weight standard of reference for adults, used to assess body fatness and to define the degree of overweight/obesity. The formula for determining BMI is: weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres (Health and Welfare Canada, 1988).

• [10]Although a BMI of 25-27 is also considered to be in an acceptable range, it may cause health problems for some people. Thus, in the NSHS95 the term healthy weight is defined as BMI 20- 25.