Health-Adjusted Life Expectancy among Canadian Adults with and without Hypertension

Hypertension can lead to cardiovascular diseases and other chronic conditions. While the impact of hypertension on premature death and life expectancy has been published, the impact on health-adjusted life expectancy has not, and constitutes the research objective of this study. Health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) is the number of expected years of life equivalent to years lived in full health. Data were obtained from the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System (mortality data 2004–2006) and the Canadian Community Health Survey (Health Utilities Index data 2000–2005) for people with and without hypertension. Life table analysis was applied to calculate life expectancy and health-adjusted life expectancy and their confidence intervals. Our results show that for Canadians 20 years of age, without hypertension, life expectancy is 65.4 years and 61.0 years, for females and males, respectively. HALE is 55.0 years and 52.8 years for the two sexes at age 20; and 24.7 years and 22.9 years at age 55. For Canadians with hypertension, HALE is only 48.9 years and 47.1 years for the two sexes at age 20; and 22.7 years and 20.2 years at age 55. Hypertension is associated with a significant loss in health-adjusted life expectancy compared to life expectancy. 1. Background Hypertension or high blood pressure (HTN) is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In 2002, the World Health Organization estimated that at least 50% of cases with cardiovascular disease and 75% of strokes were caused by elevated blood pressure [1]. Hypertension is considered to be one of the leading risk factors for death and disability worldwide. The number of Canadians with hypertension is increasing in Canada. The first report on hypertension from the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System published by Public Health Agency of Canada shows that the age-standardized prevalence of hypertension among the adult population increased by about 7% between 1998 and 2006 and is projected to increase by another 25% by the end of 2012 [2]. According to that report the crude prevalence of diagnosed hypertension among Canadian adults (20 years old and older) in 2006 was 22.7%. Similar estimates of the prevalence of hypertension are also reported by Statistics Canada based on results from the first cycle of Canadian Health Measure Survey [3]. In many cases, the presence of hypertension leads to premature death and therefore the reduction of life expectancy (LE) and health expectancy (healthy life expectancy). Because of high morbidity in the hypertensive population, the reporting of