Death Rate Rose Among Young Canadians During Pandemic Amid Surging Overdoses: StatCan

Increased feelings of social isolation and a 95% jump in opioid-related deaths disproportionately hurt younger Canadians

People cross a deserted street in Old Montreal on Feb. 8, 2022, during provincial restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19. The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes

Excess mortality rates among younger Canadians rose as the COVID-19 pandemic wore on, which may have been the result of increased substance use and missed medical appointments, according to Statistics Canada.

The federal agency released the latest provisional data on April 14, which shows that overall excess mortality—meaning more deaths than expected in a given period—climbed to 28,987 in Canada from March 2020 to the end of November 2021.

This amounts to 6 percent more deaths than would be expected if there were no pandemic, after accounting for population changes such as aging. Meanwhile, 28,600 deaths directly attributed to COVID-19 were reported during that period.

The agency notes that in the three distinct periods of overall excess mortality observed in Canada since the start of the pandemic, the impacts of excess mortality shifted from mainly affecting older Canadians to increasingly affecting younger people, especially males. It adds that “to some extent, this shift may be caused by increased indirect effects of the pandemic, such as missed medical appointments and increased substance use.”

Among Canadians under the age of 45, excess deaths rose in each of the three waves Statistics Canada recorded during the pandemic: from April 2020 to June 2020, from October 2020 to the end of January 2021, and from August to mid-November 2021.

Males under the age of 45 saw excess deaths climb 11.8 percent in the first wave, 19.7 percent in the second wave, and 24.4 percent in the third wave. For women, excess deaths were 8.6 percent, 11.7 percent, and 17.6 percent respectively.

According to federal government data released in March on opioid- and stimulant-related harms in Canada, there was a 95 percent increase in apparent opioid toxicity deaths (AOTDs) during the first year of the pandemic. Total AOTDs between April 2020 and March 2021 jumped to 7,224, almost double the 3,711 deaths in the corresponding months in the year prior to the pandemic.

The latest figures show that national AOTDs continued to remain high in the first nine months of 2021, at a rate of about 20 deaths per day.

Some 74 percent of these deaths occurred among males between January and September 2021, and the majority, for both males and females, were recorded among those aged 20 to 59 years.

Stress Remains High

“A number of factors may have contributed to a worsening of the overdose crisis over the course of the pandemic, including the increasingly toxic drug supply, increased feelings of isolation, stress and anxiety, and changes in the availability or accessibility of services for people who use drugs,” the government report reads.

In a report from last December, Statistics Canada found in a national study that opioid poisoning-related hospitalizations have been highest among certain disadvantaged groups. They include those with lower levels of income and education, those who were unemployed or out of the labour force, those who self-identify as indigenous, those who live in lone parent households, and those who spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing.

The report also noted that stress levels remain high as the pandemic continues to challenge Canadians’ mental health. And it reiterated that the pandemic has caused more deaths than would be expected but not all from COVID-19, noting that “poisonings and opioid overdoses are contributing to excess mortality.”

Nearly 50 percent of Canadians considered that their stress levels were somewhat or much worse than prior to the pandemic, the Statistics Canada report said. Among the population groups experiencing higher stress levels were people between 35 and 44 years of age.

In a Nanos Research poll from January, 64 percent of Canadians aged 18–34 reported that their mental health is worse or somewhat worse since the start of the pandemic—the highest of all age groups.

A significant portion of younger Canadians reported that the two biggest factors for their decline in mental health were a loss of social contacts (67 percent), and the impact of lockdowns and public health restrictions (59 percent).

The Public Health Agency of Canada said Canadians with mood disorders were more likely to turn to opioid pain relief medication, which it said has contributed to the overdose crisis that has been exacerbated by the challenges of the pandemic.

Overdose Deaths ‘Unprecedented, Terrifying’

In the first nine months of 2021, the most recent health department data indicated that 88 percent of all AOTDs occurred in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario.

B.C. led all provinces with a rate of 41.3 AOTDs per 100,000 people, compared to a rate of 33 deaths in Alberta and a rate of 18.3 deaths in Ontario.

According to the BC Coroners Service, the province tallied a record 2,232 total illicit drug toxicity deaths in 2021, jumping 128 percent from the 981 deaths in 2019. With 382 deaths already confirmed in the first two months of 2022, B.C. is on pace for another record year.

“As we approach the sixth anniversary of the declaration of the public-health emergency into substance-related harms, we are continuing to lose members of our communities at an unprecedented and terrifying rate,” B.C. Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe said in a recent statement.

Statistics Canada warned that its national excess mortality figures could be higher for 2021 because the data it released on April 14 is provisional due to reporting delays in some provinces.

While the data, which does not include the territory of Yukon, shows that while excess deaths have been on the rise for younger Canadians, deaths actually dropped in the second and third waves for those aged 85 and older.

In that older age group, for women, the first wave saw 22.5 percent excess deaths, followed by 10.4 percent and 3.8 percent in the subsequent waves, and for men, 17.4 percent excess deaths occurred in the first wave, followed by 13.1 percent and 6.4 percent in the subsequent waves.