British Columbia's Longevity Advantage: A Comparison of Deaths across Canadian Provinces and territories/L'avantage De la Colombie Britannique En Termes De Longevite : Une Comparaison Entre Les Provinces et Territoires Canadiens

Abstract On average, the residents of British Columbia have a longer life expectancy than any other province in Canada. While throughout most of the 20th century the reported range in life expectancies across provinces narrowed, over the last decade and a half, this reported range has actually widened--with British Columbia leading the country in this regard. We estimate the extent to which deaths could be reduced across provinces in Canada if BC rates were to prevail across all provinces and territories. As an extreme, the total number of deaths in Newfoundland and Labrador is reduced by over 1 in 4 male deaths and 1 in 5 female deaths if this province had the same age/specific rates as observed in BC. Relative to other provinces, BC deaths are less numerous among older and middle-aged men, and to a lesser extent, older women. In comparing BC with the rest of Canada, cardiovascular disease and cancer were less likely to occur, with the bulk of excess deaths outside of this province linked to these causes. The prevalence of associated major risk factors for these types of deaths were also lowest in BC across provinces--including smoking, hypertension, and obesity. In the broader North American context, BC appears as almost an outlier in terms of the very low incidence of obesity in its population. Resume En moyen, les residents de la Colombie britannique une longevite plus eleve que toute autre province canadienne. Au cours de la plupart du 20ieme siecle la variation en termes de longevite entre les provinces a connu une reduction; Toutefois, au cours des dernieres 15 annees, cette variation a connu une augmentation--avec la Colombie britannique etant la province avec les meilleurs resultats. Nous avons estime dans quelle mesure les deces a travers les provinces du Canada pouvaient etre reduits si les taux qui prevalent en Colombie britannique etaient la norme pour toutes les provinces et tous les territoires. Dans le cas extreme, le nombre total de deces a Terre-Neuve et Labrador est reduit par plus 1 pour 4 deces masculins et 1 pour 5 deces feminins si cette province avait les memes taux par tranche d'age tels qu'observes en Colombie britannique. En comparaison avec d'autres provinces, les deces en Colombie britannique sont moins nombreux parmi les hommes ages et d'age moyen et pareillement, mais a un moindre degre, pour les femmes plus agees. En comparant la Colombie britannique avec le reste du Canada, les maladies cardiovasculaires et le cancer apparaissent moins probables, avec la plupart des deces excedentaires en dehors de la Colombie britannique etant relie a ces causes. La prevalence des facteurs a risque majeurs associes avec ces maladies est egalement moins elevee en Colombie britannique en comparaison avec les autres provinces--y compris la proportion de la population qui fume, l'hypertension et l'obesite. Dans le contexte nord-americain, la Colombie britannique apparait presque comme une exception en termes de l'incidence tres bas de l'obesite parmi sa population. Introduction Life expectancy at birth in Canada for both sexes combined recently surpassed the 80 year mark. This was the first country in the Americas to do so--up to 80.8 years by 2006. This basic statistic suggests substantial improvements in public health, medicine, socioeconomic conditions and nutrition--in reducing the risk of early death. Yet this is not to neglect the fact that inequities continue to characterize Canadian regions in terms of population health and mortality. While throughout most of the 20th century the reported range in life expectancy across provinces narrowed, over the last decade and a half there has been a reversal of this trend. In examining statistics on life expectancy (at birth) across Canadian provinces, the reported range narrowed from about 7 years in the early 1930s to only 1.5 years by 1992 (Beaujot and McQuillan 1982; McVey and Kalbach 1995). Yet over the last decade and a half, there has been a reversal in this trend, with this range back up to 3. …

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