Ministry of Health

Summary of Death Related Statistics

Causes of Death by Gender and Age, British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 21

Twelve Leading Causes of Death, British Columbia, 1996-2000 and 2001
Twelve Leading Causes of Death, British Columbia, 2001

Highlights to Table 22/Figure 15

TABLE 23:
Highlights:

Leading Causes of Death by Age and Gender, British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 23

TABLE 24:
Highlights:

Infant Mortality by Age of Mother and Birth Weight, British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 24

TABLE 25:
Highlights:

Infant Mortality by Gestational Age and Birth Weight, British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 25

TABLE 26:
FIGURE 16
Highlights:

Infant Mortality by Local Health Area, British Columbia, 1996-2000 and 2001
Infant Mortality by Local Health Area, British Columbia, 1996-2000 (map)

Highlights to Table 26/Figure 16

TABLE 27:
Highlights:

Selected Causes of Infant Deaths and Stillbirths, British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 27

TABLE 28:
FIGURE 17
Highlights:

Deaths Due to HIV Disease by Gender and Age Group, British Columbia, 1987-2001
Deaths Due to HIV Disease by Age Group, British Columbia, 1996-2001

Highlights to Table 28/Figure17

TABLE 29:
Highlights:

Deaths Due to HIV Disease by Health Service Delivery Arrea, British Columbia, 1987-2001
Highlights to Table 29

TABLE 30:
Highlights:

Deaths from Accidents and Violence by Gender, British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 30

TABLE 31:
Highlights:

Deaths from Accidents and Violence by Local Health Area, British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 31

TABLE 32:
Highlights:

Suicide Deaths by Month and Gender, British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 32

TABLE 33:

FIGURE 18
Highlights:

Standardized Mortality Ratio, All Causes of Death
British Columbia, 1996-2000 and 2001
All Causes of Death by Local Health Area
British Columbia, 1996-2000 (map)
Highlights to Table 33/Figure18

TABLE 34:

FIGURE 19
Highlights:

Potential Years of Life Lost and Age Standardized Mortality Rates
by Selected Causes of Death, British Columbia, 2001
Potential Years of Life Lost and Age Standardized Mortality Rates
by Selected Causes of Death, British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 34/Figure19

TABLE 35:

FIGURE 20
Highlights:

Potential Years of Life Lost by Age Group and Major Causes of Death
(Age Under 75 Years), British Columbia, 2001
Potential Years of Life Lost Standardized Rates by Age Group and Gender
Major Causes of Death (Age Under 75 Years), British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 35/Figure20

TABLE 36:

FIGURE 21
Highlights:

Potential Years of Life Lost by Local Health Area, External Causes of Death
(Age Under 75 Years), British Columbia, 1996-2000 and 2001
External Causes of Death by Local Health Area,
(Age Under 75 Years), British Columbia, 1996-2000 (map)
Highlights to Table 36/Figure21

TABLE 37:

Highlights:

Deaths Due to Medically Treatable Diseases by Selected Causes and Gender
British Columbia, 1996-2000 and 2001
Highlights to Table 37

TABLE 38:

FIGURE 22

Highlights:

Standardized Mortality Ratio by Local Health Area,
Deaths Due to Medically Treatable Diseases
British Columbia, 1996-2000 and 2001
Deaths Due to Medically Treatable Diseases
by Local Health Area
British Columbia, 1996-2000 (map)
Highlights to Table 38/Figure22

TABLE 39:
FIGURE 23
Highlights:

Alcohol-related Deaths by Cause, British Columbia, 1996-2000 and 2001
Alcohol-related Deaths by Cause, British Columbia, 2001

Highlights to Table 39/Figure23

TABLE 40:
Highlights:

Alcohol-related Deaths by Age and Gender, British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 40

TABLE 41:

FIGURE 24
Highlights:

Standardized Mortality Ratio by Local Health Area, Alcohol-related Deaths
British Columbia, 1996-2000 and 2001
Alcohol-related Deaths by Local Health Area,
British Columbia, 1996-2000 (map)
Highlights to Table 41/Figure24

TABLE 42:
FIGURE 25
Highlights:

Smoking-attributable Mortality, British Columbia, 2001
Smoking-attributable Mortality by Selected Causes and Gender, British Columbia, 2001

Highlights to Table 42/Figure25

TABLE 43:
Highlights:

Drug-induced Deaths by Age and Gender, British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 43

TABLE 44:
FIGURE 26
Highlights:

Drug-induced Deaths by Cause, British Columbia, 1996-2000 and 2001
Drug-induced Deaths by Gender, British Columbia, 2001

Highlights to Table 44/Figure26

TABLE 45:

FIGURE 27
Highlights:

Standardized Mortality Ratio by Local Health Area, Drug-induced Deaths
British Columbia, 1996-2000 and 2001
Drug-induced Deaths by Local Health Area,
British Columbia, 1996-2000 (map)
Highlights to Table 45/Figure 27

TABLE 46:
Highlights:

Method of Disposition of Decedent, British Columbia, 1985-2001
Highlights to Table 46

Summary

Statistics arising from death events are presented in this section. Included are tables and figures containing information about deaths by age, gender and cause. Deaths are assigned to a Local Health Area (LHA) based on the usual residence of the decedent. Topics of particular interest are leading causes of death, infant mortality, alcohol-related, drug-induced and smoking-attributable causes, deaths from HIV disease, and deaths from accidents and violence. Mortality statistics are provided in terms of Age Standardized Mortality Rates (ASMR), Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMR), Potential Years of Life Lost (PYLL), and Potential Years of Life Lost Standardized Rate (PYLLSR). Standardized measures are used to compare deaths in different geographical areas by age, gender and cause. In addition, maps are provided to geographically illustrate various patterns of mortality in British Columbia.

Statistics from deaths in 2001 are summarized below:

There were 28,164 deaths in British Columbia in 2001, 864 more deaths than the 27,300 in 2000 (see Table 1). More than half of all deaths in 2001 (52.1%) were males (14,661 deaths), and 13,503 deaths were females. Over three quarters (78.5%) of all 2001 deaths were seniors (age 65 or older), and the oldest age group (80 years of age or more) accounted for more than four out of every ten deaths (46.3%).
The Age Standardized Mortality Rate (ASMR) for all causes of death in 2001 was 55.08 per 10,000 standard population. The 2001 ASMR for males was 68.02 and for females it was 44.52.
Based on Table 22 categories, cancer (malignant neoplasms), cardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disease, the top three leading causes of death, were responsible for over sixty percent of the deaths in the province in 2001.
Chronic lung disease was the fourth leading cause of death in 2001 for both genders combined (1,210 deaths) with an ASMR of 2.31 deaths per 10,000 standard population; however, based on ASMR, accidental deaths (2.36 per 10,000 standard population) ranked fourth in 2001 accounting for 1,060 deaths, and also ranked fourth (3.52 per 10,000 standard population) in 1996-2000.
There were 159 infant deaths (under one year of age) and 281 stillbirths in 2001, a slight increase from the 149 infant deaths in 2000. There was no change in the number of stillbirths from 2000.

The infant mortality rate for births with very low birth weight (less than 1,500 grams) was almost one in four (243.40 per 1,000 live births). The infant mortality rate for the babies with a gestational age of 20-27 weeks at birth was 451.22 per 1,000 live births, which reflects the low birth weight and fragile health of these babies.
There were 1,422 deaths from accidents and violence among B.C. residents. Suicides and motor vehicle accidents each accounted for more than one in five of these deaths. Accidental falls accounted for about one fifth and accidental poisoning accounted for about one sixth of deaths from external causes.
Out of the 28,164 deaths in B.C. in 2001, 11,050 were under age 75. An average of 16.7 years of life were lost per death under 75 years of age.
There were 1,779 alcohol-related deaths in 2001. About one half of all alcohol related deaths were seniors (aged 65+) and a third were aged 45-64.
There were 5,670 deaths that were attributed to smoking.
There were 312 deaths in the province from drug-induced causes.

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