This indicator gives details on premature deaths that could potentially have been avoided through primary prevention.
Lower rates are desirable.
Data availability:
to (calendar years)
Geographic coverage
All provinces/territories
Reporting level
National, Province/Territory, Region
Calculation
(Number of deaths at age younger than 75 from preventable causes ÷ Total mid-year population younger than age 75) × 100,000 (age-adjusted)
Denominator
Total mid-year population younger than age 75
Numerator
Number of deaths at age younger than 75 from preventable causes
Comments
The indicator is calculated based on 3 years of pooled data.
Avoidable mortality indicators were developed based on the Australian Potentially Avoidable Deaths indicator and the U.K. Office for National Statistics' list of causes of avoidable mortality, followed by expert review of the diagnosis codes and rationales for including each condition.
Causes of death were assigned to preventable and treatable subcategories based on 2 main mechanisms of mortality reduction: incidence and case-fatality reduction. These subcategories are mutually exclusive. In cases where a prevention/treatment overlap exists, the case was assigned to the preventable category; the exceptions were ischemic heart disease and stroke, where a random half of cases were assigned as preventable and the other half assigned as treatable. However, the mutually exclusive nature of the subcategories does not imply that all cases assigned to the preventable group do not have a treatable component, and vice versa.
More information about the indicator can be found in the In Focus section of Health Indicators 2012, available on CIHI's website.
Indicator results are also available on