recent study<\/a> in the journal Health & Place<\/i> highlights the inequality of life and death.<\/p>\nThe work is the first of its kind in Canada. A team of researchers examined two disparities at the neighbourhood level in Metro Vancouver: gaps in life expectancies, and where common causes of death cluster.<\/p>\n
The team combined data from BC Vital Statistics and census tracts. The most recent data comes from 2016, and the team tracked changes since 1991.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s surprising to see such wide disparities in one of the healthiest cities in Canada,\u201d said project lead Jessica Yu, who researches population health at the University of British Columbia.<\/p>\n
The average male and female Metro Vancouverite are expected to live 82.5 and 86.6 years respectively. On paper, this looks good \u2014 the average Vancouver resident lives slightly longer than the average Canadian.<\/p>\n
But the regional average obscures the places where life expectancies are closer to a country like Russia than Canada.<\/p>\n
Aside from Vancouver\u2019s Downtown Eastside, some of the old downtowns in other cities are home to people with lower-than-average life expectancies, such as New Westminster, Surrey, Langley and Maple Ridge. This is also where incomes are low, according to the census.<\/p>\n
As for where people are expected to live the longest, residents of Richmond\u2019s East Cambie and North Vancouver\u2019s Upper Capilano are right up there with residents of the University Endowment Lands.<\/p>\n
This shows that each of the region\u2019s many cities, even tony North Vancouver, has inequality within it, Yu says.<\/p>\n
Another startling discovery came from the team\u2019s longitudinal examination of Metro Vancouver.<\/p>\n
Between 1991 and 2001, the gap in life expectancies across the region shrunk. This means that all neighbourhoods were getting closer to the region\u2019s average.<\/p>\n
But between 2001 and 2016, the gap widened. This means that there\u2019s a greater gap in years between the neighbourhoods with long expectancies and those with short ones \u2014 as shown in the 30-year difference between residents in the Downtown Eastside and the University Endowment Lands.<\/p>\n
The team also examined 20 causes of death across the region, including injuries, cancers, various diseases, neurological disorders, substance use disorders and sexually transmitted infections.<\/p>\n
The team found clusters of neighbourhoods that share common causes of death.<\/p>\n
Yu said this fact should be brought to the attention of health and urban planners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s missing in those areas? Maybe education related to nutritional food access. If there\u2019s a high mortality rate from HIV or STIs, they may consider implementing more testing. If there\u2019s more mortality from prostate cancer, maybe we need to do a better job of screening.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team created a map for people to examine life expectancy and causes of death in their own neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
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