Health Reports
A Canadian peer-reviewed journal of population health and health services research
February 2025
Changes in life expectancy at birth during the COVID-19 pandemic and contributions by cause of death in British Columbia, Canada
by Xibiao Ye, Ioana Sevcenco, Richard Mercer, Henry Ngo, Alyssa Parker, Viet Dao, Reiko Okamoto and Bonnie Henry
Since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, there have been at least 772 million confirmed cases and 6.9 million confirmed deaths worldwide. In Canada, there were 59,083 COVID-19 deaths as of September 9, 2024, including 6,852 deaths in the province of British Columbia. Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic led to 120. excess deaths per 100,000 population (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 113.1 to 129.3) in 2020 and 2021 combined. The study estimated that, during the same period, there were 5,260 excess deaths (95% CI 4,350 to 6,250) caused by the pandemic in British Columbia and 43,700 excess deaths (95% CI 39,900 to 47,300) in Canada. Another study using a different statistical method reported an even higher estimate of excess deaths caused by COVID-19 in British Columbia.
Full article PDF versionThe health consequences of obesity history and weight fluctuations in adulthood
by Rachel C. Colley, Tracey Bushnik and Joel Barnes
The prevalence of Canadian adults with obesity has been steadily increasing over the past four decades. Nine percent of Canadian adults had obesity in 1981, 27.2% had obesity in 2018 and the most recent estimates from 2022 indicate that 30% of Canadian adults have obesity. Obesity is a strong predictor of health complications including cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes, hypertension, liver and kidney diseases, and cancer.
Full article PDF versionRelated articles
The health consequences of obesity history and weight fluctuations in adulthood
- Cohen A, Lang JJ, Prince SA, Colley RC, Tremblay MS and Chaput JP. Health Reports. 2025; 36(1): DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.25318/82-003-x202500100002-eng
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