Years of Life Lost. This measures the number of years of life lost for each person who dies prematurely and/or from a specific disease or medical condition. It can be used to examine different causes in relation to the total YLL for all persons dying of that cause of death or the average YLL for each person who dies of that cause of death.
Greater weight is given to deaths which occur at younger ages, and the calculation can differ. Sometimes the potential years of life lost is calculated based on the number of years lost based on premature death which is considered to be 75 years, although there are alternatives used. The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities in their Fingertips tool which examines potential years of life lost due to alcohol-related conditions uses the number of age-specific alcohol-related deaths multiplied by the national life expectancy for each age group which is then summed to give the total potential years of life lost.
If the number of years lost is based on dying prematurely, then if 1,000 people die from a particular medical condition, 10 of them prematurely at an average age of 67 years (eight years prior to age 75 years) then the average YLL per person would be eight years, and the total YLL over all persons would be 80. Deaths with the greatest overall YLL will tend to have a high YLL per person where the person dies young (infant deaths, suicide and underdetermined injury, alcohol or drug related deaths, etc.) or a relatively low YLL per person with deaths occurring at older ages but a high number of overall deaths (coronary heart disease, lung cancer, etc.).
Also see: Disability Adjusted Life Years, Quality Adjusted Life Years, Years of Life Lost Due to a Disability, and Life Expectancy (as healthy life expectancy and disability-adjusted life expectancy adjust life expectancy estimates for quality of life).