CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS AND LIFE YEAR IMPACTS BY GENDER IN CANADA

摘要

This paper examines the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors for Canadians by age and gender and estimates the potential impact of these risk factors on potential years of life at the age of 50. The paper is based on data from the Canadian health heart surveys which collected clinical and self reported data on a probability based sample of 23,129 Canadians. The paper has five major findings as follows. First, the overall age-adjusted share of men who smoke of 28% is larger than the share of women who smoke of 26%, and this difference is statistically significant. Second, the overall age-adjusted share of men with high blood pressure is 25%, the overall age-adjusted share of women with high blood pressure is 17%, and the difference is statistically significant. Third, the overall age-adjusted share of men who are overweight is 34%, the overall age-adjusted share of women who are overweight is 27%, and the difference is significant. Fourth, the overall age-adjusted share of men with elevated cholesterol levels is 44%, and the overall age-adjusted share of women with elevated cholesterol levels is 41%. Fifth, the impact of a ten percent reduction in individual cardiovascular risk factors, taken one at a time, ranges from 0.07 years to 0.14 years for men and 0.07 years to 0.10 years for women.