{"id":7655,"date":"2016-04-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-06T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icesontario.wpengine.com\/news-releases\/unhealthy-behaviours-socioeconomic-barriers-contribute-to-37-per-cent-of-ontarios-health-care-costs-report\/"},"modified":"2023-06-14T18:13:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T22:13:26","slug":"unhealthy-behaviours-socioeconomic-barriers-contribute-to-37-per-cent-of-ontarios-health-care-costs-report","status":"publish","type":"news_release","link":"https:\/\/www.ices.on.ca\/fr\/news-releases\/unhealthy-behaviours-socioeconomic-barriers-contribute-to-37-per-cent-of-ontarios-health-care-costs-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Unhealthy behaviours, socioeconomic barriers contribute to 37 per cent of Ontario\u2019s healthcare costs: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unhealthy behaviours and socioeconomic barriers together contribute to 37 per cent of Ontario’s healthcare costs, at a burden of $134 billion over 10 years. This is among the findings of a new report released today by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES)<\/span>, in partnership with The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa.<\/p>\n

However, the researchers also point to some hopeful news: improvements made in reducing Ontarians' unhealthy behaviours have resulted in a 1.9 per cent reduction in attributable healthcare costs over 10 years, translating to $4.9 billion in savings overall. This reduction in health costs was primarily driven by successful smoking cessation efforts across the province.<\/p>\n

The authors say that for every $1 increase in health costs attributed to Ontario’s aging demographic, the province has achieved savings in the range of 20 cents by reducing Ontarian’s unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, unhealthy alcohol consumption, poor diet and physical inactivity.<\/p>\n

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\"TwitterTweet: Unhealthy behaviours, socioeconomic barriers cost Ontario health system $134B in 10 years: @ICESOntario report http:\/\/ctt.ec\/Yzfaj+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"TwitterTweet: Lower rates of unhealthy behaviours esp smoking saved Ontario $4.9B in health costs over 10 yrs: @ICESOntario report http:\/\/ctt.ec\/248dB+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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“Though it may seem modest, a 1.9 per cent reduction in health costs is actually quite substantial compared to other savings we’ve been able to achieve as a province to date,” says Doug Manuel<\/a>, the study’s lead author who is a senior adjunct scientist at ICES, a senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and a professor at the University of Ottawa. “Finding ways to reduce health costs through preventative public health programs will be an important counter weight to the pressures of an aging population.”<\/p>\n

The report, now available on the ICES website, <\/a>was launched today at The Ontario Public Health Convention in Toronto. At the meeting the investigators also announced a new online tool for predicting individual healthcare costs, now available to the public at http:\/\/www.projectbiglife.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smoking, unhealthy alcohol consumption, poor diet and physical inactivity are known to have a widespread effect on Ontarians' health, but healthcare planners have to date lacked reliable information about how the cumulative effects of these behaviours drive Ontario’s overall health costs, and how public health efforts can reduce these costs. A report led by Manuel in 2014 determined that 32 per cent of hospital days in Ontario were at least partly attributable to these unhealthy behaviours. <\/p>\n

For this new report, the research team built on their earlier findings using data from the Canadian Community Health Survey conducted between 2003 and 2008. They followed individual anonymized respondents over four years, tracking changes in the four unhealthy behaviours over a total span of 10 years. They then calculated the resulting individual-level increase or decrease in direct healthcare costs, noting such expenses as hospital-based care, drug benefits, OHIP billing, lab tests and home care. They also took into account the individual’s socioeconomic position, including education, family income, housing status and neighbourhood deprivation. <\/p>\n

Among the study’s findings:<\/p>\n