COVID led causes of lower life expectancy in B.C. women during pandemic. For men, it was toxic drugs: report [Video]

A new report from Statistics Canada, co-authored by several members of British Columbia’s Office of the Provincial Health Officer, shows that during the COVID-19 pandemic, life expectancy at birth decreased — a decline that was driven in large part by deaths caused by the toxic unregulated drug supply.

According to the report, compared to 2019 when life expectancy for both men and women in B.C. peaked — about 81 years for men and about 85.5 years for women — there was a dip during the pandemic of as much as 1.8 years for men and more than half a year for women.

For women, the number one cause for the decrease in life expectancy was COVID-19 infection, followed by unregulated drug toxicity deaths. For men, that was flipped, with drug deaths being the main factor.

Dr. Daniele Behn Smith, deputy provincial health officer, said the research team wanted to look into how the …