Life expectancy at birth at the local level in Ontario.

ognized indicator of population health. Estimates have been reported for centuries, during which the methods of life table derivation have been refined and incorporated as one of a demographer’s most useful tools. Increasingly, health planners and epidemiologists are asked to produce local level health status reports. However, life expectancy has frequently disappeared from such reports (in Ontario we are aware of only two Health Units that have estimated their life expectancy; notable exceptions include several other provincial reports). Other applications of life tables are virtually absent in local health planning. There may be many barriers to local reporting of life expectancy, including difficulties in its derivation (data availability, methodological constraints, and lack of resources), the more common use of standardized mortality rates/ratios, and the perceived diminished value as a health outcome measure. The latter may result in part from: the search for health status measures that more closely reflect a comprehensive positive view of health (and not merely mortality); the false assumption that life expectancy has plateaued in the latter half of this century; and, the perception that life expectancy differences between populations are small and of little significance. Although the difference in life expectancy between provinces has narrowed to less than 1.7 years for males and 2.4 years for females, the degree of variability at the local level is less clearly established. This paper presents the results of life expectancy for the 42 Health Units (HU) in Ontario for 1988-1992.