Citation

Lang JJ, Alam S, Cahill LE, Drucker AM, Gotay C, Kayibanda JF, Kozloff N, Mate KKV, Patten SB, Orpana HM. CMAJ 2018; 190(44): E1296-E1304.

Affiliation

Centre for Surveillance and Applied Research (Lang, Orpana), Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada; Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group (Lang), CHEO Research Institute, Ottawa, Ont.; Departments of Medicine (Alam, Cahill) and of Community Health and Epidemiology (Alam, Cahill), Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS; Department of Nutrition (Cahill), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Mass.; Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine (Drucker), and Department of Psychiatry (Kozloff), University of Toronto; Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine (Drucker), Women's College Hospital; Women's College Research Institute (Drucker), Toronto, Ont.; School of Population and Public Health (Gotay), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC; Institut de la statistique du Québec (Kayibanda), Québec, Que.; Slaight Family Centre for Youth in Transition (Kozloff), Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ont.; School of Physical and Occupational Therapy (Mate), McGill University, Montréal, Que.; Departments of Community Health Sciences (Patten) and of Psychiatry (Patten), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alta.; School of Epidemiology and Public Health (Orpana), University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ont.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Canadian Medical Association)

DOI

10.1503/cmaj.180698

PMID

30397156

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The Global Burden of Disease Study represents a large and systematic effort to describe the burden of diseases and injuries over the past 3 decades. We aimed to summarize the Canadian data on burden of diseases and injuries.

METHODS: We summarized data from the 2016 iteration of the Global Burden of Disease Study to provide current (2016) and historical estimates for all-cause and cause-specific diseases and injuries using mortality, years of life lost, years lived with disability and disability-adjusted life years in Canada. We also compared changes in life expectancy and health-adjusted life expectancy between Canada and 21 countries with a high sociodemographic index.

RESULTS: In 2016, leading causes of all-age disability-adjusted life years were neoplasms, cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, and mental and substance use disorders, which together accounted for about 56% of disability-adjusted life years. Between 2006 and 2016, the rate of all-cause age-standardized years of life lost declined by 12%, while the rate of all-cause age-standardized years lived with disability remained relatively stable (+1%), and the rate of all-cause age-standardized disability-adjusted life year declined by 5%. In 2016, Canada aligned with countries that have a similar high sociodemographic index in terms of life expectancy (82 yr) and health-adjusted life expectancy (71 yr).

INTERPRETATION: The patterns of mortality and morbidity in Canada reflect an aging population and improving patterns of population health. If current trends continue, Canada will continue to face challenges of increasing population morbidity and disability alongside decreasing premature mortality.

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Language: en