The France Public Health Barometers are national surveys conducted among the general population for several years. They cover around thirty themes, such as smoking, nutrition, sleep, well-being, vaccination practices, etc.
These surveys provide valuable information on the health of the population. Repeated over time, they aim to monitor the main behaviors, attitudes and perceptions of French people. Conducted for the first time in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, the survey made it possible to obtain information never before collected.
What are the key findings of the survey?
- The participation rate was 63.8%, ie a rate nearly 15 points higher than a survey of the same duration conducted in mainland France, demonstrating the very good reception given to the survey by the population of the archipelago.
- The prevalence of current smoking among 18-75 year olds is 43.2% among men (vs 33.0% in mainland France) and 35.3% among women (vs 24.6%). This prevalence of smoking, and in particular daily smoking, is significantly higher than that in mainland France among men and women in the age groups of 18 to 54 years.
- The rate of people having had at least one occasional heavy drinking (API) during the year is 46.6% (vs. 35.2%), the highest rates for 18-24 year olds (84.6 %) and 25-34 year olds (74.9%). Among 18-24 year olds, 26.3% (vs 13.4%) reported at least 10 occasional heavy drinking (API) during the year and 23.6% of 25-34 year olds (vs 9.0%) .
- Mental health issues are significant among young people since 25.6% (vs. 11.7% in mainland France) of 18-24 year olds reported at least one characterized depressive episode (CDE) in the year preceding the survey and 19.2% (vs. 4.6%) said they had had suicidal thoughts during this period. During their lifetime, 11.8% (vs. 6.1%) of 18-24 year olds have made at least one suicide attempt.
- The prevalence of diabetes (8.8% in men vs 7.9% in mainland France, and 8.0% in women vs 3.7%) and overweight/obesity (15.3% obesity in men vs 13.2% in metropolitan France, and 17.7% among women vs 13.8%) are also significant, especially among people aged 55 and over for whom the prevalences are much higher than those in metropolitan France.
Proportions for the three health perception questions* in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and mainland France, by age, all sexes
* 1) How is your general health? 2) Do you have any illness or health problem that is chronic or of a lasting nature? 3) Have you been limited, for at least 6 months, because of a health problem, in the activities that people usually do?
What will the results be used for?
Although preliminary, the results presented in this synthesis will be useful in contributing to the definition of public health policies at the local level. In particular, they will make it possible, by identifying target populations, to define the actions to be implemented to respond to these public health issues.
More broadly and to assess the actions that will be carried out at the local level, this survey could be repeated at regular intervals in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.
3 questions to Dominik PASCAL, Director of the Territorial Health Administration
Can you remind us of the missions of the Territorial Health Administration?
The territorial health administration (ATS) is the equivalent of the regional health agencies in mainland France or in the overseas departments and territories. It has the particularity of being attached to the prefecture of St Pierre and Miquelon and of being headed by a prefect. Our archipelago is located just opposite Brest as the crow flies, crossing the Atlantic at 4,000 km.
The attributions of the ATS are substantially the same as those of mainland France. This involves organizing monitoring and health security, often in conjunction with the Ministry in charge of Health but also with Newfoundland, a few kilometers away.
It is necessary to define, finance and evaluate preventive and health promotion actions.
We must also regulate, guide and organize the healthcare offer in the territory, taking into account our specificities. A single hospital with very few year-round specialties, its own health insurance scheme, detached from the CPAM, are examples of this.
How does the action of Public Health France help you in your missions? What do the results of the first Health Barometer conducted in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon bring you for your mission?
Above all, an objective and factual photograph of the state of health of 18-75 year olds, because a lot of information was circulating without being substantiated.
Then, it is important to be able to adapt the various national policies to the needs of 6,000 inhabitants. These results allow us to target priorities.
Finally, the visit of Public Health France to the “pebble” will have made it possible to compare the Barometer figures with the field expertise of all health professionals. The exchanges were rich and made it possible to determine avenues of work and create synergy.
What are the first courses of action that you are going to include in your strategy in connection with the findings from the Barometer?
Two key themes have been identified and will be work priorities: cancer monitoring and the malaise of young people between 10 and 18 years old.
In a fairly consensual way, certain figures have convinced politicians: increasing the price of tobacco, for example.
Other actions are aimed at the long and medium term: exploring and exploiting the barometer data not used in this synthesis, setting up a place to gather, supervise and listen to young people, defend the idea of a restoration collective in schools, consolidate the network of sentinel doctors, monitor the evolution of medical evacuations, etc.
In summary, it is the photograph of a population that had never been the subject of study and which gave a real boost to prevention in a country where we are used to storms !
To download
surveys/studies
Public Health Barometer France 2020 Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. First descriptive results
questionnaire