A new note from Statistics Canada, Premature and potentially avoidable mortality in Canada, provinces and territories, 2020 to 2023, notes that just under one quarter of deaths in Canada in 2023 were potentially avoidable.
“Cancers, diseases of the circulatory system and drug overdoses remain the leading causes of avoidable deaths. Together, they accounted for close to two-thirds of all avoidable deaths in 2023,” the report’s researchers write. “Avoidable deaths are those that occur among people under the age of 75 years and result from causes that are considered preventable with changes in lifestyle or behaviours, or treatable given access to proper health care.”
They found that the territories in Canada had the highest avoidable mortality rate; Nova Scotia and Quebec reported the lowest rates of avoidable death.
“Age-standardized avoidable mortality rates ranged from 200.5 deaths per 100,000 population in Quebec to 286.9 deaths per 100,000 population in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2023. The rate in the territories was much higher at 305.1 deaths per 100,000 population.”
Men had a higher age-standardized avoidable mortality rate than women. “Males were more likely to die than females from diseases of the circulatory system, such as ischemic heart disease; drug overdose; intentional injuries, such as suicides; and alcohol and drug use disorders,” they write.
In 2023, 31.4 per cent of avoidable deaths were attributed to cancers, a decrease when compared to 2020 figures; 23.3 per cent of avoidable deaths were caused by circulatory diseases, unchanged from 2020 and nearly 10 per cent of avoidable deaths in 2023 were caused by drug overdoses, an increase relative to 2020 figures. “Drug overdoses accounted for 11.1 per cent of avoidable deaths among males, compared with 7.1 per cent among females in 2023,” they write. They also note that 71.3 of all fatal drug overdoses affected men.
