Researcher warns that life expectancy in Canada could fall as in the United States

An article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests that life expectancy in Canada could be threatened by the same factors that led to its downfall in the United States.

"There are signs in the same direction," said Juergen Rehm of Toronto's Center for Addiction and Mental Health, a major teaching and research hospital. "We are seeing the same trends (to a lesser extent) in Canada."

Rehm said that life expectancy in the United States had begun to decline slightly – which is so rare in a rich country that the last time it happened in the United States occurred during the Second World War. Most of the new decline is due to an increase in "desperate deaths": drug overdose, suicide or alcohol abuse.

The increase in the number of deaths is closely related to areas where poorer and rural populations live, Rehm said.

"Ninety percent of desperate mortality in the United States is happening in rural areas of the United States," he said. "You can not let large parts of a country suffer a net loss of pay over 10 to 15 years and hope that these people are as happy and as clear as before."

In a commentary published in the newspaper, Rehm said that a similar trend seems to be settling in Canada.

The number of overdose deaths has increased to about 4,000 in 2017. "Previously, they were less than 2,000, not so long ago," Rehm said.

Deaths due to alcohol-related diseases, such as cirrhosis of the liver, are also increasing.

And while income inequality in Canada is far from US levels, Rehm cites World Bank figures that show it is on the rise.

"Our life expectancy is increasing, but it is stabilizing."

The findings of a separate document in the same newspaper support it.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, the average lifespan in Canada is 82 years – the tenth longest in the world.

But it only slightly increased compared to 81 years in 2006. And the current ranking of Canada is two steps lower than it was 10 years ago.

The same study found that the death rate for mental disorders and addictions increased by 11% between 2006 and 2016.

The agency found that Canadians are generally healthy, although the health problems of an aging population are evolving into disease and disability.

Rehm said that it was possible for Canada to avoid a decline in life expectancy caused by desperation.

Do not make cheap alcohol for one. Rehm refers to dozens of studies linking the price and availability of alcohol and its abuse.

"We have people talking about one beer at a time or an absurdity of the kind," said Rehm, referring to a popular campaign promise by Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Rehm also suggested that doctors re-examine why and when to prescribe opioid badgesics.

"Although Canada has seen half of all prescription opioids in the United States, we are still the second largest country in the world."

And politicians need to think about the impact of what they adopt in law.

"We should allow these policies that at least do not widen our gap between the rich and the poor."

Rehm does not apologize for straddling the worlds of health research and economic policy.

"I am a statistician," he said. "I am not a member of a political party, I am not a member of anything. I look at the data.

"Am I going to convince everyone? No, but I will do my best. "