| Variable | Description | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| HCV rate | Standardized sex- and age-stratified rates of cases of HCV infection (per 100 000 population) reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada | • Canadian Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System for HCV case counts (7) • Statistics Canada, Demography Division. Population estimates 0–100+, 1971–2012. Updated postcensal estimates, July 2012 (21) |
| Log-logit-transformed HCV rate | Original reported rates of HCV infection were transformed as follows: f(p) = log[−log(p/1 − p)] | Created |
| Residual | Residuals of the log-logit-transformed HCV rate after mean polish analysis | Created (according to Selvin) (22) |
| Birth group | Categorical variable describing fourteen 5-year birth groups spanning 70 years (1921−1925 = 1,… 1986−1990 = 14) | Created |
| Reporting period | Categorical variable describing four 5-year reporting periods spanning 20 years of testing (1991−1995, 1996−2000, 2001−2005, 2006−2010) | Created |
| Cohort effect | Categorical variable used in the regression model to describe the joint effect of birth group and reporting period on the original HCV rates | Created as birth group × reporting period |
Note: HCV = hepatitis C virus.