| Author | Dr. Gauden Galea MD, MSc (Lond) |
| Abstract | Indicators of premature mortality allow an analysis of potentially preventable causes of death. Following a review of their development and a comparative analysis of different cut-off points, the Crude Death Rate and the Total Potential Years of Life Lost between 1 and 64 completed years of life are deemed to be most reliable in the Maltese situation. There were 620 deaths and 8536 years of life annually during 1987 through 1990. The male:female relative risk of death was 1.54. The major causes of these losses were Congenital anomalies (ages 1-14,), Injury and Poisoning (ages 15 24), Neoplasms (ages 25 29) and Disease of the Circulatory System (ages 50 64). Specific causes of importance include traffic accidents, suicide, cancer of the female breast, smoking-related cancers, ischaemic heart disease and stroke. Premature mortality is not sufficient to describe the impact of such conditions as Diabetes, HIV/AIDS and alcohol Abuse. Premature mortality should be used in reporting on the state of the public health, in target-setting and in comparing the potential benefits of interventions (e.g. screening and risk factor reduction). It is less useful when analyzing causes amenable to medical intervention for quality assurance purposed in Malta. |
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| Key words | circulatory disease, injury, poisoning, neoplasm, planning preventive intervention, potential years of life lost (PYLL), smoking, premature mortality |