Health Outcome HO.7 Leading causes of death by years of life lost

Leading causes of death by years of life lost (YLL), San Francisco, 2004 and 2000
  ALL Male Female
  YLLs  Deaths  YLLs  Deaths  YLLs  Deaths 
Cause 2004 2000 2004 2000 2004 2000 2004 2000 2004 2000 2004 2000
Ischemic heart disease 12,617 15,744 1,056 1,293 8,066 9,863 554 672 4,552 5,881 502 621
HIV/AIDS 6,668 7,766 178 199 5,956 7,087 161 183 712 678 17 16
Trach/bronch/lung cancer 5,947 6,025 361 352 3,518 3,884 196 212 2,430 2,142 165 140
Cerebrovascular disease 5,540 6,680 504 588 2,732 3,550 195 249 2,808 3,130 309 339
Violence 3,773 2,756 71 50 3,546 2,276 65 41 226 481 6 9
Hyptensive heart disease 3,766 3,507 233 256 2,419 2,136 118 122 1,347 1,371 115 134
Self-infliced injury 3,719 3,727 101 95 2,829 3,120 78 76 891 607 23 19
Poisonings 3,289 4,569 77 109 2,494 3,857 59 91 795 712 18 18
COPD 2,750 3,627 226 281 1,724 2,265 129 155 1,026 1,361 97 126
Lower respiratory infection 2,727 2,927 248 300 1,790 1,666 124 142 937 1,261 124 158
Alcohol use disorder 2,626 1,870 84 58 2,210 1,592 70 48 416 278 14 10
Breast cancer 2,389 2,016 110 96 22 30 2 1 2,367 1,987 108 95
Diabetes 2,348 1,861 143 114 1,479 825 72 46 869 1,036 71 68
Traffic accident 2,211 2,424 55 61 1,350 1,460 32 37 862 963 23 24
Colon/rectal cancer 2,141 2,333 136 152 1,198 1,337 69 76 942 996 67 76
Cirrhosis of Liver 1,991 2,457 74 87 1,326 1,900 44 65 666 557 30 22
Liver cancer 1,841 1,880 95 81 1,426 1,499 64 57 415 381 31 24
Lymphoma/multiple myeloma 1,680 1,551 93 89 1,014 873 54 47 666 677 39 42
Alzheimer/other dementia dis. 1,497 1,303 234 198 497 469 70 57 1,000 834 164 141
Pancreas cancer 1,474 1,497 92 91 706 810 45 43 768 688 47 48
Leading causes of premature mortality ranked by 1st column measure.
Source: CA Master Death Files, CA Dept. of Health Services (2000 and 2004 files) San Francisco residential deaths.
YLLs: Years of Life Lost (based on WHO Global Burden of Disease (1996) life expectancies.)

Data Source

Data are compiled by Building a Healthier San Francisco - 2007 Community Health Assessment.  Available at Health Matters in San Francisco, www.healthmattersinsf.org.

Explanation and Limitations

From the "Health Matters in SF" website:  "YLLs, Years of Life Lost, are calculated from the life expectancies of some standard population.  In this case we used the o­ne used by the 1996 World Health Organization (WHO) Global Burden of Disease and Injury study.......This population represents o­ne with a long life expectancy, and is therefore an empirically attainable life expectancy. Years of life lost (YLLs) for each death are the difference between the age at death and the life expectancy in the standard population at that age. As such, YLLs give much greater weight to deaths the earlier they occur. These earlier deaths are generally more preventable, so this measure combines numbers of deaths with degree of prematurity (or preventability) of deaths. One of the United States Healthy People 2010 goals is extending the length of healthy life. Decreasing numbers of YLLs reflects part of this goal in that it involves either decreasing the number of deaths or increasing the age at death, both major goals of prevention and promoting the public’s health.

YLLs can be calculated without current population numbers by age needed to calculate age-adjusted rates. It is useful to calculate and examine leading causes of YLLs within groups over time. Since YLLs are not adjusted for differences in the size and age structure of the different ethnic populations, numbers of YLLs cannot be directly compared across these groups."  For more information, visit:  www.healthmattersinsf.org.