Health Outcome HO.8 Leading causes of death by years of life lost

Leading causes of premature death by years of life lost (YLLs), San Francisco, 2004-2007 and 2000-2003
Male Female
  Rank YLLs Rank YLLs Deaths Avg. Age at Death   Rank No. YLLs Rank No. YLLs Deaths Avg. Age at death
  '04-'07 '00-'03 '04-'07 '00-'03 '04-'07 '00-'03   '04-'07 '00-'03 '04-'07 '00-'03 '04-'07 '00-'03
Ischemic heart dis. 1 25,604 1 30,885 2,023 2,455 76 76 Ischemic heart dis. 1 17,366 1 21,374 1,938 2,360 84 84
HIV/AIDS 2 17,571 2 24,357 519 668 49 47 Cerebrovascular dis. 2 9,866 2 12,434 1,007 1,305 83 83
Violence/assault, all mech. 3 12,922 8 9,270 255 183 32 32 Lung, bronchus, trachea cancers 3 9,340 3 9,381 600 612 74 74
Lung, bronchus, trachea cancers 4 12,760 3 12,414 813 801 71 71 Breast Cancer 4 7,654 4 8,467 383 412 69 68
Drug overdose, unintentional 5 12,666 4 12,081 357 311 47 44 Hypertensive heart dis. 5 5,603 6 6,824 518 600 82 81
Self-inflicted injuries, all mech. 6 10,667 5 10,774 304 289 48 47 Alzheimer, other dementias 6 4,726 13 3,696 793 623 89 89
Hypertensive heart dis. 7 8,685 7 9,818 529 592 71 70 Drug overdose, unintentional 7 4,482 15 3,196 112 79 46 46
Cerebrovascular dis. 8 7,818 6 10,527 682 910 78 78 Lower respiratory inf. 8 4,029 9 4,924 511 614 86 86
Chronic obstructive pulmonary dis. 9 6,492 9 7,308 541 577 76 75 Chronic obstructive pulmonary dis. 9 3,851 8 5,263 356 472 81 81
Alcohol use disord. 10 6,252 10 6,950 217 238 55 54 Colon, rectum cancers 10 3,568 12 3,840 279 303 78 78
Cirrhosis of the liver 11 5,449 11 6,300 205 231 58 57 Self-inflicted injuries, all mech. 11 3,089 16 3,146 84 92 50 53
Lower respiratory inf. 12 4,919 13 5,311 482 533 80 80 Diabetes mellitus 12 3,089 11 3,853 244 281 78 77
Liver cancer 13 4,747 12 5,671 249 267 67 64 Pancreas cancer 13 3,020 17 2,800 199 193 75 75
Colon, rectum cancers 14 4,486 14 4,635 298 297 72 71 Ovary cancer 14 2,639 21 2,288 139 125 70 71
Diabetes mellitus 15 4,038 15 4,250 247 257 71 70 Cirrhosis of the liver 15 2,527 20 2,341 101 92 63 62
Drug use disorders 16 3,900 20 2,524 117 69 50 46 HIV/AIDS 16 2,387 18 2,699 62 66 47 45
Lymphomas, mult. myeloma 17 3,463 18 3,134 230 196 72 71 Lymphomas, mult. myeloma 17 2,355 19 2,432 162 173 76 76
Inflammatory heart dis. 18 2,511 16 3,991 147 200 71 66 Liver cancer 18 2,032 24 1,910 129 115 74 73
Alzheimer, other dementias 19 2,506 31 1,571 391 240 86 86 Nephritis and nephrosis 19 1,880 - 1,401 129 104 76 78
Prostate cancer 20 2,472 19 2,725 244 283 79 80 Stomach cancer 20 1,840 - 1,533 106 96 72 74
Source: CA Master Death Files, CA Dept. of Health Services (2000-2007 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 - Mortality Analysis Report 2010.  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 2020 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.