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Overview of the ten leading causes of death in Canada
Sex differences
Age patterns
Geographic differences
Infant death
Comparison between Canada and the United States
Footnotes
Overview of the ten leading causes of death in Canada
- In 2004, the 10 leading causes of death in Canada accounted for 78.9% of all deaths, a decrease from 80.3% in 2000. In 2004, cancer and heart disease were responsible for over half (52.4%) of all deaths in Canada.
- From 2000 to 2004, the proportion of deaths due to cancer increased from 28.7% to 29.5%, while it decreased for heart disease from 25.3% to 22.9%. However, the age–standardized mortality rates1 dropped by 3.7% for cancer and 16.6% for heart diseases in the same period.
- From 2000 to 2004, the standardized mortality rate for all causes combined declined 7.1%. The largest reductions occurred from 2003 to 2004 and 2000 to 2001. The standardized rates in these two periods dropped sharply, mainly because of the substantial reduction in the rates for heart disease and, to a lesser extent, because of the decline in the rates for stroke and cancer.
Sex differences
- From 2000 to 2004, the proportion of deaths for the 10 leading causes of death combined declined more for females than for males. However, the decline in the age-standardized rate was more pronounced for males (8.8%) than for females (5.6%).
- The ranking of the top three leading causes of death for males and females—cancer, heart diseases, and stroke—remained unchanged from 2000 to 2004.
- From 2000 to 2004, the greatest difference in the ranking of the 10 leading causes for males and females was for the following causes: unintentional injuries, suicide and Alzheimer’s disease.
- From 2000 to 2004, the proportion of deaths due to cancer increased at the same pace for males as females. In contrast, the overall decrease in the proportion of deaths due to heart disease was slightly more pronounced for females.
Age patterns
- For those aged 1 to 44 years, unintentional injuries or suicide or both were among the top two leading causes of death in 2004, while cancer and heart disease were the top two leading causes of death for those aged 45 years and older.
- In 2004, the proportion of deaths due to cancer and heart disease had different patterns across age groups, while unintentional injuries and suicide had similar patterns across age groups.
- Cancer was responsible for small proportions of deaths in the younger age groups, but it increased for those aged 25 to 64 and decreased for those aged 65 and older. In contrast, the proportion of deaths for heart disease increased steadily as the population aged.
- In 2004, the pattern of the proportion of deaths due to cancer was similar across age groups for males and females, whereas for heart disease, it was not.
- A similar pattern emerged for males and females across age groups in the proportions of deaths due to unintentional injuries and suicide in 2004.
- From 2000 to 2004, the changes in the relative burden of cancer and heart disease were small, however, there was an important declines in the proportion of deaths due to heart disease for those aged 55 and older.
- As population ages, age-specific mortality rates increased at exponential speed, but there was a decline in these rates between 2000 and 2004. The most noticeable decline in age–specific mortality rates occurred in the cancer mortality rates for those aged 15 to 24 and in the heart disease mortality rates for those aged 55 to 64.
Geographic differences
- Cancer and heart disease were the two top leading causes of death in 2004 for all provinces and two territories, except for Nunavut, where suicide ranked second.
- The proportion of deaths dropped sharply from the second- to the third–leading cause of death in 2004.
- Cancer and heart disease were the two top leading causes of death for males and females, in the majority of provinces and territories in Canada in 2004.
- Stroke ranked higher for females whereas unintentional injuries ranked higher for males in the Canadian provinces in 2004.
- In the Canadian territories suicide was the first-, third- and fourth leading cause of death for males and second– and fifth–leading cause for females.
- From 2000 to 2004, in most of Canadian provinces and territories the proportions of deaths due to cancer went up and for heart disease they went down.
- From 2000 to 2004, the proportions of deaths due to unintentional injuries and suicide had different trends in half of Canadian provinces and territories.
Infant death
- Congenital abnormalities and short gestation were responsible for over one third of infant deaths in Canada. They were the top two leading causes of infant death from 2000 to 2004.
- Male and female infants had the same top three leading causes of death in 2004.
- For each year from 2000 to 2004, congenital abnormalities and short gestation were the top two leading causes of male and female infant deaths.
- From 2000 to 2004, the gap between sexes widened for the top two leading causes of infant death.
- Infant mortality rate for short gestation was up by one third from 2000 to 2004, while for congenital abnormalities it declined.
Comparison between Canada and the United States
- Canadian and American males and females shared the same 10 leading causes of death in 2004, but not the same ranking.
- In 2004, cancer led heart disease as the leading cause of death in Canada, but in the United States the ranking was reversed.
- Suicide ranked higher than homicide as a leading cause of death in Canada, while homicide ranked higher in the United States in 2004.
- Eight of the top 10 leading causes of infant death were the same in Canada and the United States in 2004.
Footnotes
1. Age–standardized mortality rate eliminates the effect of changes in population structure over time, thus the comparison of these mortality rates will reflect the actual changes in mortality.
