A new report from Statistics Canada reveals that life expectancy in British Columbia declined during the pandemic, due in large part to drug toxicity deaths and the direct impact of COVID-19.
The report, entitled Changes in life expectancy at birth during the COVID-19 pandemic and contributions by cause of death in British Columbia, Canada, points to other studies that show excess all-cause mortality during the pandemic caused declines in life expectancy at birth in most countries, after decades of improvement prior to the pandemic. The study reviewed life expectancy in British Columbia from 2000 to 2022 and looks at changes that have occurred since 2019.
The report says compared with 2019, male life expectancy decreased by 1.16 years in 2020, 1.81 years in 2021 and 1.62 years in 2022. Female life expectancy did not change in 2020 but decreased by 0.65 years in 2021 and 0.56 years in 2022.
“COVID-19 and unregulated drug toxicity were the top two causes of deaths contributing to the life expectancy declines in males and females, with COVID-19 being the number one contributor in females and unregulated drug toxicity deaths as the number one contributor in males,” they write. “The COVID-19 pandemic impacted population health not only through its direct effects, but also through indirect impacts on other health outcomes, including the unregulated drug toxicity crisis, the combination of which were driving factors in the decline in life expectancy at birth.”
Excess deaths in Canada
In Canada, they add, there were 59,083 COVID-19 deaths as of September 9, 2024. This includes 6,852 deaths in the province of British Columbia. “Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic led to 120.3 excess deaths per 100,000 population in 2020 and 2021 combined. The study estimated that during the same period, there were 5,260 excess deaths caused by the pandemic in British Columbia and 43,700 excess deaths in Canada.”
From 2000 until 2014, the report says life expectancy had been increasing at an average rate of 0.18 years per year for females and 0.21 years per year for males. Between 2015 and 2018, both sexes saw a decline and then a recovery, reaching a new high level of 85.47 years for females and 80.99 years for males by 2019. Globally, life expectancy for both sexes has been increasing since 1950, they add, but trends reversed, starting in 2020, with a total decline of 1.6 years from 2019 to 2021.
“Life expectancy declined in 84 per cent of countries worldwide,” they add. “Life expectancy started to recover in British Columbia in 2022. This trend was found in two other provinces (Saskatchewan and Alberta) but not in the rest of the provinces and territories in Canada.”
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