1. Potential Years of Life Lost Due to COVID-19 in the United States, Italy, and Germany: An Old Formula with Newer Ideas
- Author
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Marinelle Payton, Alexis Brown, Nusrat Kabir, Kimberly N Ragland, Amal K. Mitra, and April Whitehead
- Subjects
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis ,Pneumonia, Viral ,lcsh:Medicine ,Context (language use) ,Article ,Older population ,disease burden ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Life Expectancy ,Germany ,Pandemic ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Mortality ,Pandemics ,Disease burden ,Mortality, Premature ,030503 health policy & services ,PYLL ,lcsh:R ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,COVID-19 ,United States ,New York State ,Premature death ,Geography ,Years of potential life lost ,Italy ,Life expectancy ,Health Services Research ,0305 other medical science ,Coronavirus Infections ,Demography - Abstract
Today, the world is facing the challenge of a major pandemic due to COVID-19, which has caused more than 6.1 million cases of infection and nearly 370,000 deaths so far. Most of the deaths from the disease are clustered in the older population, but the young and children are not spared. In this context, there is a critical need to revisit the formula for calculating potential years of life lost (PYLL). Data on age-specific deaths due to COVID-19 in three countries, including the United States (US), Italy, and Germany, were evaluated. New York State, as a significant outlier within the US, was also included. PYLLs in the US were five times as high as those of Italy. Compared with Germany, PYLLs in Italy were 4 times higher, and the rates in the US were 23, 25, and 18 times higher when using upper age limits of 70, 75, and 80, respectively. Standardized PYLLs in New York were 2 times as high as the rates in Italy, and 7 to 9 times as high as PYLLs in Germany. The revised formula of PYLL, using an upper limit of age 80, is recommended to accurately measure premature deaths due to a major disastrous disease such as COVID-19.
- Published
- 2020