[An indicator of needs for the regional allocation of public health resources in Quebec].

This paper proposes an indicator of needs for regional resource allocation in public health in Quebec. In the literature, the only reported measure of needs for regional resource allocation in public health has two parameters: size of population and Potential Years of Life Lost for preventable causes of death (APVP-EV). We verified whether APVP-EV were associated with various indices of socioeconomic conditions and lifestyle, preventive behaviours, satisfaction with social life, healthy life expectancy and some clienteles specific to public health. Our analysis indicates that the rate of Potential Years of Life Lost by avoidable causes is significantly related to all variables except satisfaction with social life. We therefore propose using size of population and its rate of APVP-EV to determine regional allocation of resources in public health.