Citation

Dummer TJ, Bellemare S, MacDonald N, Parker L. Int. J. Pediatr. 2010; 2010(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Population Cancer Research Program, Dalhousie University, 1494 Carlton Street, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 3B7.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Hindawi Publishing)

DOI

10.1155/2010/769075

PMID

20811484

PMCID

PMC2926586

Abstract

Deaths from avoidable causes represent the largest component of deaths in young people in Canada and have a considerable social cost in relation to years of potential life lost. We evaluated social and demographic determinants of deaths in youth aged 12-24 years in Nova Scotia for the period 1995-2004. Youth most at risk of death were males, the more socially deprived, and those living in rural areas. There was a five-fold increase in suicides and a three-fold increase in injury deaths in males compared to females and a substantial component of these deaths were amongst males living in rural areas. Initiatives and prevention policies should be targeted towards specific at-risk groups, particularly males living in rural areas. Published vital statistics hide these important trends and thus provide only limited evidence with which to base-prevention initiatives.

Language: en