Heart Disease: Years of Potential Life Lost Rate by Race/Ethnicity

New York Finger Lakes Region

Premature mortality rates from heart disease have generally decreased over the past 15 years in the Finger Lakes region. However, in recent years, the rates for African-Americans and Latinos have stayed flat or even risen a bit. And there remains a very large disparity between the black and white populations.

 

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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