Volume 29 - Article 41 | Pages 1127–1152  

Cause-specific measures of life years lost

By Per Kragh Andersen, Vladimir Canudas-Romo, Niels Keiding

Abstract

Background: A new measure of the number of life years lost due to specific causes of death is introduced.

Methods: This measure is based on the cumulative incidence of death, it does not require "independence" of causes, and it satisfies simple balance equations: "total number of life years lost = sum of cause-specific life years lost", and "total number of life years lost before age x + temporary life expectancy between birth and age x = x".

Results: The measure is contrasted to alternatives suggested in the demographic literature and all methods are illustrated using Danish and Russian multiple decrement life-tables.

Author’s Affiliation

• Per Kragh Andersen - Københavns Universitet, Denmark EMAIL
• Vladimir Canudas-Romo - Australian National University, Australia EMAIL
• Niels Keiding - Københavns Universitet, Denmark EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Subnational contribution to life expectancy and life span variation changes: Evidence from the United States
Volume 50 - Article 22

Variable-r in sex ratios: Formulas in honor of Jim Vaupel
Volume 49 - Article 26

Comparative evidence of years lived with reproductive-age morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa (2010‒2019)
Volume 49 - Article 6

The role of reductions in old-age mortality in old-age population growth
Volume 44 - Article 44

Expected years ever married
Volume 38 - Article 47

Coherent forecasts of mortality with compositional data analysis
Volume 37 - Article 17

Decomposing changes in life expectancy: Compression versus shifting mortality
Volume 33 - Article 14

TFR for males in Denmark: Calculation and tempo-correction
Volume 32 - Article 52

The Gompertz force of mortality in terms of the modal age at death
Volume 32 - Article 36

The crossover between life expectancies at birth and at age one: The imbalance in the life table
Volume 24 - Article 4

No consistent effects of prenatal or neonatal exposure to Spanish flu on late-life mortality in 24 developed countries
Volume 22 - Article 20

Rates of induced abortion in Denmark according to age, previous births and previous abortions
Volume 21 - Article 22

An integrated approach to cause-of-death analysis: cause-deleted life tables and decompositions of life expectancy
Volume 19 - Article 35

Biological and sociological interpretations of age-adjustment in studies of higher order birth rates
Volume 19 - Article 31

The modal age at death and the shifting mortality hypothesis
Volume 19 - Article 30

Education and second birth rates in Denmark 1981-1994
Volume 17 - Article 8

Modelling regional variation of first-time births in Denmark 1980-1994 by an age-period-cohort model
Volume 13 - Article 23

Changing mortality and average cohort life expectancy
Volume 13 - Article 5

Age-specific contributions to changes in the period and cohort life expectancy
Volume 13 - Article 3

Decomposing demographic change into direct vs. compositional components
Volume 7 - Article 1

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Life expectancy by religious affiliation in Finland 1972–2020
Volume 52 - Article 17    | Keywords: Finland, life expectancy, register data, religious affiliation

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality in Uruguay from 2020 to 2022
Volume 51 - Article 29    | Keywords: COVID-19, excess mortality, life expectancy, Uruguay

On the relationship between life expectancy, modal age at death, and the threshold age of the life table entropy
Volume 51 - Article 24    | Keywords: Gompertz law, life expectancy, lifespan variation, longevity, mode, mortality

Makeham mortality models as mixtures: Advancing mortality estimations through competing risks frameworks
Volume 51 - Article 18    | Keywords: background mortality, competing risks, Makeham, mixture model, mortality models, senescent mortality

Standardized mean age at death (MADstd): Exploring its potentials as a measure of human longevity
Volume 50 - Article 30    | Keywords: formal demography, life expectancy, mean age at death, mortality, standardization