The life expectancy of people living in Guernsey remains high, with it being 83.4 years during the 2019-2021 period. That breaks down into 83.4 years for women and 81.2 years for men. 

This breaks down further into statistics revealing ‘healthy’ life expectancies, with 64.5 years for males and 63.2 years for females. 

“Together these measures of life expectancy tell us that women in Guernsey, on average, live longer overall but with a shorter time lived in good health, compared to men,” the report states. 

This healthy life expectancy measure is lower for both men and women compared to Jersey. 

Other key findings include covid deaths being considerably lower than other jurisdictions, 21% of deaths being ‘avoidable’ and an estimated 10% of all deaths being due to smoking related illnesses. 

Suicides 

A notable finding is an increase in the rate of suicides or deaths via injury through undetermined intent. It was 7 per 100,000 between the years of 2013 to 2015, but 15 between 2019 and 2021. 

This rate is currently higher than England, Wales and Jersey, with a notable spike in 2021 of 11 during the year. 

There has also been a recorded rise in death by suicide or injury with undetermined intent over the past 20 years, as per the graph below: 

The report states: “There is a consistent pattern of more suicide deaths among males than among females. Of the 104 deaths between 2002 and 2021, 74% were male and 26% female. 

“For males, suicide deaths are highest between ages 20–59 with a pronounced peak from 20 to 29 years. On average there were 4 deaths per year for males over the last 20 years compared to 1 per year for females.” 

Alzheimer's and dementia 

Deaths with an underlying cause of Alzheimer’s and dementia have more than doubled since 2002. It accounted for 4.2% of deaths between 2002 and 2004, while accounting for 10% of deaths between 2019 and 2021. 

The report states: “An increase over time is generally expected as there will be greater proportions of older people in the Guernsey population (due to its ageing population structure) who are more likely to be susceptible to these diseases.” 

Leading causes of death and inequality 

The four leading causes of death in Guernsey during the 2019-2021 period have been revealed to be cancers, circulatory diseases, respiratory diseases and mental and behavioural disorders.  

The Head of Public Health, Jenny Cataroche, said the report gives Public Health the ability to pick up on areas of inequality that might require focused resource. 

“One example of this is a notable difference in avoidable mortality between males and females with males making up 62% of avoidable deaths during 2019–21, compared to females who make up 38% of avoidable deaths in that timeframe,” she said. 

“Knowing that this inequality exists means that further questions can be asked to explore the underlying reasons. Are men seeking treatment promptly for health issues as they arise? Are there barriers that are preventing men accessing healthcare when the need it? Is enough being done to promote screening services to men and enable the types of behaviours and activities that prevent diseases occurring in the first place?” 

More to come...