Health expectancy in Canada, late 1970s: demographic, regional, and social dimensions.

Based on estimates of activity restriction from the Canada Health Survey, institutional data on long-term care, and survival data from vital statistics, we have calculated an index of health expectancy (life expectancy in each state of health), and a summary of these indices which we have called quality-adjusted life expectancy. At birth, expected years of long-term institutionalization were 0.8 for men and 1.5 for women. Expected years of activity restriction not involving long-term institutionalization were 10.8 for men and 14.0 for women; 3.0 of the expected years of activity restriction for men and 1.3 of these years for women were in the most severe category of restriction (unable to do major activity). For both sexes together, quality-adjusted life expectancy was 1.4 years greater in Ontario and the Prairies than in the Atlantic region, 3.2 years greater in Canada's three largest cities than in rural areas and small towns, and 7.7 years greater among persons from high-income families than among persons from low-income families.