Life Expectancy, Mortality, and Years of Potential Life Lost

The most commonly used measures of the health of a population actually reflect disease and mortality rather than health itself. Despite the many problems with using mortality as a proxy for health, mortality data are generally available and widely used to describe the health status of populations.

Life Expectancy

Mortality

Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL)

Life Expectancy

• Life expectancy is the average number of years people born in a given year are expected to live based on a set of age-specific death rates. At the beginning of the 20th century, life expectancy at birth was 47.3 years. Fortunately, life expectancy has dramatically increased over the past 100 years. Today, the average life expectancy at birth is nearly 77 years (United States Department of Health and Human Services, September 2000, Healthy People 2010: Understanding and Improving Health).
  
  
  
  
• While life expectancy for persons of every gender, age group, race, and ethnicity has increased during the past century, disparities still exist among population groups. These disparities suggest an opportunity and a substantial need for improvement.

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Mortality

While the age-adjusted mortality rate of Blacks in Travis County decreased by 12.5 percent from 1989 to 1998, the mortality rate of Blacks is still more than 50 percent higher than that of Whites (Texas Department of Health [TDH], September 2000, Epigram).

There has not been a significant change in the mortality rates of Whites, non-Hispanics, and Hispanics within the past ten years in Travis County (TDH, September 2000, Epigram).

The mortality rates for other races varies and are statistically unreliable due to the small numbers.

• The leading causes of death in Travis County, the MSA, and the State of Texas are heart disease, cancers, stroke, and unintentional injury. However, the leading causes of death vary among age groups and race/ethnicity populations (TDH, September 2000, Epigram).

The leading causes of death are heart disease, cancers, stroke, and unintentional injury.

• The leading cause of death during the first year of life is congenital anomalies; from age one to age 45, unintentional injury causes the greatest number of deaths; from age 45 to 64, cancers cause the most deaths; and heart disease is the greatest killer of people over age 65. These numbers hold true for all race/ethnic groups in Travis County with the exception that the leading cause of death for Blacks between the age 25-44 years is HIV infection (TDH, September 2000, Epigram).
  

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Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL)

• Years of potential life lost is a mortality-based indicator that places greater weight on deaths that occur at younger ages. Years of life lost before age 65 are computed and used to measure the relative impact on society of different causes of deaths. This can be calculated for any age but age 65 is generally used to indicate the prime years of productivity lost. An infant death would contribute 65 YPLL, a homicide at age 25 would contribute 40 YPLL, and a death due to stroke at age 70 would contribute no years of potential life lost before age 65.
  
• The rate of YPLL in the Black population was slightly more than twice the rate of YPLL in the White population in 1989. While the YPLL rate has decreased overall for both the Black (nine percent from 1989 to 1998) and White populations, the gap between the two groups has widened (TDH, September 2000, Epigram).
• The leading cause of YPLL in the Travis County Black population is HIV infections (TDH, September 2000, Epigram).

  The leading cause of YPLL in all race/ethnic groups except Blacks is unintentional injury (TDH, September 2000, Epigram).

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