Abstract

Taiwan has made remarkable economic progress in the last 30 years. The life expectancy of its population improved steadily during this period. A male child born in 1983 could look forward to 70.4 years of life and a female child to 75.3 years, gains of 17.5 years and 19.0 years, respectively, since 1950. The potential gains in life expectancy of the Taiwan population are also examined if the five leading causes of death are reduced or eliminated. In addition, this paper discusses the concept of potential productive years of life lost (PYLL), examines the leading causes of premature death and shows how this measure can be used to target prevention programs and health care planning.

PIP:

Researchers analyzed 1983 vital statistics for Taiwan using the life table analysis and calculating the potential years of life lost (PYLL) to identify life shortening features of several major causes of death and examine the preventability of premature mortality. Life expectancy for males was 69.9 years whereas for females it was 75.1 years. these corresponding life expectancies for Japan were 73.8 years and 79.6 years and 71.7 years and 78.7 years for the US. Between 1950-1983, life expectancy at birth in Taiwan increased 17.5 years for males and 19 years for females. In 1983, the cumulative total of PYLL before age 70 for males was 737,205 compared to 353,780 years for females. Thus loss of productivity of males was 2 times that of females. Most of this loss was a result of accidents. In fact, they contributed to 37.2% of PYLL for males and 24.9% of PYLL for females. Even though accidents were also the leading cause for the most PYLL in Japan and the US (17.4% and 8.7% respectively in Japan and 25% for both sexes combined in the US), the magnitude was considerably lower than that of Taiwan. Further the type of accidents males were more likely to die from were motor vehicle accidents (18,8% vs. 18.4% for home and workplace accidents). On the other hand, women were more likely to die from home and workplace accidents(14% vs. 10%). The 2nd major cause for the most PYLL was all cancers, except liver cancer, (15.9% for males and 20.4% for females). The 3rd major cause for the most PYLL for males was liver disease (liver cancer and cirrhosis of the liver) (9.6%) while for females it was stroke (8.7%). Further suicides contributed to 6.5% of PYLL for females. IN conclusion, Taiwan should place accident prevention as a high priority since it needs limited resources and is more achievable than that of cancer elimination. The next level of preventive efforts should include stroke and suicide.