Health Deficiencies in Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1950-1995

Cape Breton County contains one of the most polluted areas in North America and is socioeconomically depressed. We evaluated mortality patterns in this area over the past 5 decades, focusing on life expectancy and life loss. Life loss refers to the difference in life expectancy of Cape Breton County...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) Mass.), 1999-09, Vol.10 (5), p.495-499
Main Authors: Veugelers, Paul J., Guernsey, Judith Read
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age groups
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Biological and medical sciences
Canada - epidemiology
Cancer
Causes of death
Censuses
Child
Child, Preschool
Confidence Intervals
Environment
Epidemiology
Female
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Life expectancy
Life Expectancy - trends
Life Tables
Male
Medical sciences
Men
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Mortality
Mortality - trends
Nova Scotia - epidemiology
Prevention and actions
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Retrospective Studies
Sex Distribution
Socioeconomics
Time Factors
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Summary:Cape Breton County contains one of the most polluted areas in North America and is socioeconomically depressed. We evaluated mortality patterns in this area over the past 5 decades, focusing on life expectancy and life loss. Life loss refers to the difference in life expectancy of Cape Breton County residents and all Canadians, and was further broken down into disease-specific components using cause-eliminated life table methods. We observed lags in health of 20 to 25 years for residents of Cape Breton County. Life expectancy in some municipalities of Cape Breton County is reduced by more than 5 years. Life loss for these residents is greater than that of any single cause of death for Canadians. Life loss among Cape Breton County women is primarily attributable to cancer, and, among men, to cardiovascular diseases. Life loss from cancer is higher in the steel-producing communities; whereas life loss from respiratory diseases and lung cancer is higher in the coal mining communities. These (and other) decompositions of life loss disclose patterns in health deficiencies that give rise to etiologic hypotheses and provide clues and directions for prevention and interventions.
ISSN:1044-3983
1531-5487
DOI:10.1097/00001648-199909000-00006