Rates of diabetes, heart disease, chronic bronchitis and mood disorders are as much as 4.5 times higher among Ontarians receiving social assistance than among people not living in poverty, a new report suggests.

The report, called Sick and Tired, was released Monday by three nonprofit groups: the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto, the Wellesley Institute, and the University of Toronto's Social Assistance in the New Economy project.

Researchers used 2005 figures from Statistics Canada's community health survey of more than 24,000 people across the province to compare the health of people on social assistance, the working poor and the non-poor.

People on social assistance had the highest rates in 38 of 39 chronic health conditions such as diabetes, bronchitis and mood disorders, the report's authors found.

"One in 10 social assistance recipients had considered suicide in the year leading up to the interview, and rates of attempted suicide are 10 times higher than the non poor group," said Beth Wilson of the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto.

Poverty reduction urged

Beixi Liu, who works part-time at a temporary-help agency, said he wasn't surprised that people are in so much distress. Liu worked as an electrical engineer in China before coming to Canada in 2000.

Last year, Liu worked two jobs over three shifts in the same week — days, afternoons and all night. He was a physical wreck, with insomnia and disrupted body rhythms.

"My doctor worried about it, actually," Liu said. "He detected depression."

Lie said he didn't realize he was depressed, but looking back now, he recalled questioning the meaning of his life.

Even after taking into account a long list of factors that affect health, such as education, disability status, smoking and physical exercise, living in poverty and on social assistance were powerful factors in the poor health of Ontarians, said Wilson.

The study recommended that the Ontario government make a major funding commitment to its poverty reduction plan in the next provincial budget.

The Ontario government has pledged to cut child poverty by 25 per cent in five years.

Median household income for those on welfare in the study was $13,000. Median for the working poor was $21,000. The non-poor were those whose household income was above Statistics Canada's low income measure, which is set at 50 per cent of the median household income for Canada and takes into account family size.

In 2005, the median household income for two-parent families in Canada was $67,600.