Global burden of disease among teenagers in Uruguay and its comparison with Latin America and the Caribbean.

Introduction: Adolescence is considered a healthy stage of life and therefore little studied. This study described mortality over time in teenagers in Uruguay and analysed the burden of disease at this stage of life by the measure of Years of Life Lost by Premature Death in Uruguay and by comparison with rates in Latin America and the Caribbean by sex, cause and sub-region.
Methodology: Secondary data sources used were the national registry of deaths in Uruguay, the first Global Burden of Disease study in Uruguay and the information on the data visualisation page of the Institute of Metrics and Health Evaluation. Data were extracted by the authors and displayed in tables and graphs.
Results: Teenager mortality held roughly stable between 1997 and 2015. More years were lost to premature death among Uruguayan men, the main causes being traffic accidents, self-inflicted injuries and violence. The same behaviour occurs throughout the region.
Conclusions: The social determinants of health connected with poverty and inequality play a role in the development of depression, risky and violent behaviour, which possibly explain the loss of years due to premature death in adolescence.