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Overdose deaths fuelled by the opioid crisis have lowered the life expectancy in parts of Southwestern Ontario including Windsor.

A new study from Statistics Canada reveals the epidemic also stopped the average life expectancy from increasing across the country for the first time in more than four decades.

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Statistics Canada said fatal overdoses among young people have spurred a slight decline in life expectancy for the Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network, which includes Chatham-Kent, Sarnia-Lambton, and Windsor-Essex.

“So we can see the same pattern here as we saw in Canada as a whole,” said Shirin Roshanafshar, a senior analyst with Statistics Canada. “Older adults are living longer, but these gains are almost completely offset by the increase in deaths among younger adults, largely due to opioids.”

The life expectancy in Ontario also stopped increasing from 2016 to 2017 along with the Canadian average. But in the region covered by the Erie St. Clair LHIN, life expectancy didn’t just stop improving. It declined from 81.3 years in 2016 to 81.2 years in 2017.