Cancer: Years of Potential Life Lost Rate by Race/Ethnicity

New York Finger Lakes Region (2001-2015)

Premature mortality rates due to cancer have generally decreased over the past 15 years. For African-Americans, the YPLL rate has fallen considerably since 2009, although a significant disparity remains compared to the white population. Among Latinos, the premature mortality rate in recent years is comparable to the early 2000s, and is now similar to whites, whose rate has declined.

 

Methodology note: Years of potential life lost (YPLL) is a widely used measure to assess the rate of premature mortality. YPLL places a larger weight on the deaths of younger people, in contrast with overall mortality statistics which are dominated by deaths of the elderly. The YPLL rates in Common Ground Health analyses are derived using 75 years as the baseline. A death at age 65 has YPLL of 10, where as a death at age 35 has a YPLL of 40. The rates are calculated per 100,000 population and are age-sex adjusted to account for differences in population distribution.

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