Perspectives in Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Premature Mortality -- United States, 1982
In this issue, Table V has been updated to show premature
mortality expressed as Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL) from the
first birthday to age 65 for persons who died in 1982. These new
data
are based on age- and cause-specific death rates for 1982 from the
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) (1).
From 1981 to 1982, the total YPLL for persons who died between
ages 1 and 65 years decreased by 4.6% (Table 1), in contrast to a
decline of 1.3% between 1980 and 1981 (2). The relative rankings
of
the nine causes of death included in previous versions of Table V
did
not change between 1981 and 1982. Accidents remained the leading
cause of premature loss of life, although they underwent the
largest
percentage decrease in YPLL (8.5%) of any cause between the 2
years.
Substantial reductions in YPLL also occurred for cerebrovascular
disease (7.0%), suicide and homicide (6.4%), and chronic liver
disease
and cirrhosis (5.8%). Only diabetes mellitus exhibited an increase
in
YPLL, and this increase was small (0.3%). Since the YPLL for both
1981 and 1982 are based on preliminary NCHS mortality data, the
absolute YPLL and relative differences may change slightly when
final
mortality statistics become available.
Reported by Div of Surveillance and Epidemiologic Studies,
Epidemiology Program Office, CDC.
References
National Center for Vital Statistics, Monthly Vital Statistics
Report (MVSR), 31:21-2 (October 5, 1983).
CDC. Premature death -- United States. MMWR 1983;32:118-9.
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