Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe

Health systems in transition Canada 15
Table 1.11
Main causes of death in Canada and selected countries by sex, latest available years
Cause of death, age-standardized rates
per 100 000 people Canada Australia France Sweden
United
Kingdom
United
States
Year 2004 2006 2008 2008 2009 2007
Ischaemic heart disease, males 123 99 50 118 110 129
Ischaemic heart disease, females 61 52 19 58 50 68
Stroke, males 34 36 31 45 42 32
Stroke, females 29 34 22 36 39 29
All cancers, males 205 184 221 165 199 185
All cancers, females 143 115 111 125 141 130
Lung cancer, males 60 40 57 29 48 57
Lung cancer, females 36 20 14 22 30 36
Breast cancer 22.4 18.5 22.3 19.1 23.2 19.8
Prostate cancer 21.2 24.3 20.0 32.7 23.3 17.5
Road accidents, male 12.8 10.9 10.8 6.3 6.2 21.1
Road accidents, female 4.9 3.4 2.9 2.0 1.7 8.3
Suicide, males 15.7 11.9 21.6 16.1 9.8 17.1
Suicide, females 4.9 3.3 6.8 6.0 2.6 4.3
Source: OECD (2011).
While oral health has improved steadily over the last half century, there
is considerable evidence that the lack of public programmes and funding has
slowed potential progress in addressing dental health (Grignon et al., 2010)
(Table 1.12). The Canada Health Measures Survey of 2007–2009 found that
58.8% of Canadian adolescents have one or more teeth negatively affected by
dental caries (Health Canada, 2010).
Based on 2006 data (Table 1.11), both males and females in Canada had
lower ischaemic heart disease (IHD) mortality rates than in Sweden, the United
Kingdom and the United States. While females had a heart disease mortality
rate that was equal to the rate in Australia, males had a considerably higher rate
than that of Australian males. In all cases, France had the lowest IHD mortality
rate. According to one study based on a national longitudinal population survey,
increases in the incidence of heart disease had a strong income bias in Canada.
Between 1994 and 2005, IHD incidence increased by 27% and 37% respectively
in the lower income and lower middle-income categories, while it increased by
12% and 6% respectively in the upper middle and highest income categories
(Lee et al., 2009).