Avoidable death focus of latest health council report

The New Brunswick Health Council focused its latest population health report on avoidable deaths because it might help the government figure out better strategies to prevent premature deaths, according to the organization’s chief executive officer.

Stephane Robichaud, the health council’s president and chief executive officer, said the report asks whether additional work can be done to help people in vulnerable age groups.

"We found two peaks for suicides around age 25 and people in their late 50s,” he said.

“What is going on with people’s lives at those ages that we might be able to develop health policy? On the flip side, what do we know about the suicides?"

Robichaud said the report is not only a record of mortality statistics, it's a measure of the years of life lost.

The health council defined avoidable mortality as a death that could be potentially avoided through prevention or treatment. Seniors older than 75 are not counted in the premature mortality figures.

The report said New Brunswick's avoidable mortality rate is higher than the Canadian average.

The report found that between 2007 and 2011, one person died from an avoidable cause of death for every 460 New Brunswickers.

That gave the province an avoidable mortality rate of 217.2 deaths per 100,000 people. The lowest rate was 193 in Moncton and southeastern New Brunswick and the highest rate was 295 in the Restigouche area.

"What can we learn about that that can help us better identify those people at risk and ultimately reduce those deaths," he said.

"Over time, let's say 10 years from now, we'll be able to see whether we're improving or are we going backwards?"

The 10 leading causes for avoidable deaths are:

• Lung cancer
• Heart disease
• Suicide
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases
• Transport accidents
• Colorectal cancer
• Diabetes
• Cerebrovascular diseases
• Breast cancer
• Accidental poisonings