HALIFAX — Canadians in low-income areas on the east and west coasts are up to three times more likely to suffer from chronic illnesses and mental health problems than less affluent people in other regions, a new study suggests.

The unique research found that people in deprived neighbourhoods on Canada's Atlantic coast were 20 per cent more likely to report poor health -- more than twice the number in the Prairies and Central Canada.

The figure rose to 30 per cent on the Pacific coast.

Heather White, a researcher at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto who conducted the study, said it has long been known that people in economically depressed neighbourhoods reported poorer health.

But her research now shows that the outcomes are worse for people in poor neighbourhoods on both sides of the country.

"There is a difference here and it's significant that our residents of the coastal regions are much more affected by residing in these poor neighbourhoods," she said Thursday about the paper published in this month's issue of Health and Place.

"There is less access to family physicians, to specialty care. They have higher rates of addictions and mental health and not enough programs to support them."

The research compares people living in neighbourhoods with varying degrees of poverty across the country, finding that people's health worsened at a higher rate in poorer communities on both coasts.

The study defines poor neighbourhoods as those characterized by low income, low education, high unemployment and poor housing.

White said on average, Canadians in such areas were 10 per cent more likely to report poor health compared with their more affluent neighbours.

But that doubled on the East Coast and tripled on the West Coast.

White said she didn't focus on the causes of the discrepancies, but other research has looked at factors that might play a role.

White said people on both coasts have less access to health care, fresh and affordable food, and gyms or exercise facilities.

Legislators in Ontario and Quebec, for example, have greater budgets and spend more on low-cost housing, mental health services and access to physical fitness programs for poorer people, she said.

"How those policies interact will have an different impact down at a local level," she said.

The health concerns on the two coasts differ, with Atlantic Canadians reporting more chronic physical conditions and people on the West Coast having higher rates of mental health problems.

Obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stress and infant mortality affect poorer people in Atlantic Canada at higher rates.

The study included data on 120,300 Canadians living in 3,700 urban neighbourhoods. It used information from the Canadian Community Health Survey and the 2001 census.

White said the study highlights the need for provincial and municipal politicians to tailor their approaches to dealing with poverty and its related health afflictions to the particular community.

"A policy that's developed in one neighbourhood in one region is not necessarily going to work in another," she said.