Abstract
BackgroundMeasures of premature mortality have been used to guide debates on future health priorities and to monitor the population health status. Standard expected years of life lost (SEYLL) is one of the methods used to assess the time lost due to premature death. This article affords an overview of premature mortality in Spain for the year 2008.MethodsA population-based study was conducted estimating SEYLL by sex and age groups. SEYLL, a key component of the disability-adjusted life years measure of disease burden, was calculated using Princeton West standard life tables with life expectancy at birth fixed at 80 years for males and 82.5 years for females. Population data and specific death records were obtained from the official registers of the National Institute of Statistics. All data were analysed and prepared in GesMor and Epidat software packages.ResultsThe burden of premature mortality was estimated at 2.1 million SEYLL when age at death is taken into account. Males lost 60.9% and females lost 39.1% of total SEYLL. Malignant tumors (34.5%) and cardiovascular diseases (24.0%) were the leading categories in terms of SEYLL. Ischaemic heart disease (8.5%) and lung cancers (8.0%) were the most common specific causes of SEYLL followed by cerebrovascular diseases (5.9%), colorectal cancer (4.1%), road traffic accidents (3.5%), Alzheimer and other dementias (2.9%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (2.8%), breast cancer (2.8%) and suicides (2.6%).ConclusionsIn Spain, premature mortality was essentially due to chronic non-communicable diseases. Data provided in this study are relevant for a more balanced health agenda aimed at reducing the burden of premature mortality. This study also represents a first step in estimating the overall burden of disease in terms of premature death and disability.
Highlights
Measures of premature mortality have been used to guide debates on future health priorities and to monitor the population health status
The standard expected years of life lost (SEYLL) method was adopted to take into account the age at which deaths occur by giving greater weight to deaths occurring at younger ages and lower weight to deaths occurring at older ages
In terms of specific causes, the burden of premature mortality in Spain was highest for ischaemic heart disease, followed by lung cancer and cerebrovascular disease, like in other developed and developing countries [4,13,14,15] and the corresponding Standard expected years of life lost (SEYLL) rates were lower even when compared with EURO-A subregion (e.g., 7.3, 3.9 and 3.7 per 1,000 people, respectively) [4]
Summary
Measures of premature mortality have been used to guide debates on future health priorities and to monitor the population health status. Premature mortality entails estimating the average time a person would have lived had he or she not died prematurely. This estimation inherently incorporates age at death, rather than merely the occurrence of death itself [2]. SEYLL has advantages when used as a summary measure of the burden of premature mortality, including: deaths at all ages contribute to the calculation of the burden of disease irrespective of the population in which they occur (in contrast with alternative approaches that use a fixed cut-off age e.g., 0-65, 0-75, or 1-70 years), as wells as deaths at the same age contribute to the burden of disease [5]
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