N.B. Life Expectancy Shorter Than Canadian Average

The average Canadian born between 2017 and 2019 can expect to live about 16 months longer than a person born in New Brunswick, according to a new study.

The New Brunswick Health Council published an article on life expectancy as consultations for the provincial health plan are set to begin.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), stroke, diabetes and colorectal cancer are considered among the top five causes for avoidable death.

Health council CEO Stephané Robichaud said New Brunswick has improved when it comes to the current number of smokers.

“We are lower than Canada. We are doing well there so hopefully, we’ll be able to maintain and reduce that some more. We are doing some good work on smoking,” Robichaud said.

From 2012 and 2016, an average of 1,800 people died each year from avoidable causes in New Brunswick.

Robichaud says when looking at the numbers six years ago, they found New Brunswick wasn’t faring well on preventable causes.

“That really underlined a need in New Brunswick to improve efforts around health prevention, management of chronic conditions because more people were dying before the age of 75 from those types of conditions,” Robichaud said.

Robichaud said having shorter lives due to potentially avoidable death should concern all New Brunswickers.

Part of the NBHC’s mandate is to inform New Brunswickers about our health system.
Check out this article: Life expectancy is getting shorter in New Brunswickhttps://t.co/DoxSJXRH2o

— NB Health Council (@NBHealthCouncil) February 10, 2021

In an analysis of avoidable deaths in New Brunswick, the NBHC found from 2007 to 2011 and between 2012 to 2016 there was an increase of more than 20 per cent for deaths related to the following causes:

-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
-stroke
-diabetes
-colorectal cancer

Deaths from preventable causes are premature deaths that could be avoided through vaccinations and lifestyle changes while deaths due to treatable causes are premature deaths that could have been avoided through effective screening and treatment of disease.

Robichaud notes the number of preventable deaths could change with the right measures in place.

“If lifestyles habit could change significantly we can actually prevent the onset of these conditions. When we look at people who currently have these conditions,
it’s also about preventing those conditions from getting worse because of proper management,” Robichaud said.

The NBHC found a 29 per cent increase in COPD made it the highest contributor to an uptick in avoidable deaths.

COPD is one of the illnesses considered mostly preventable.