Abstract

DOMINGUEZ ALONSO, Emma  and  SEUC, Armando H.. Life expectancy adjusted by some non-communicable chronic diseases. Rev Cubana Hig Epidemiol [online]. 2005, vol.43, n.2. ISSN 0253-1751.

The summary measures of the health status of a population (SMSP) are indicators that quantify the negative burden of a disease, starting not only from the number of deaths caused by the disease, but also from morbidity and from the subsequent loss of quality of life generated by this entity. A specific type of these indicators is the disability adjusted life expectancy. This indicator was used aimed at identifying possible differences in the negative effect of morbidity from some non-communicable chronic diseases (diabetes, asthma, cerebrovascular disease, cancer and ischemic heart disease) with differentiation by sex, and at evaluating the general tendency of its behavior with the time (1990, 1995 and 2000). Life expectancy was calculated by using mortality from all the causes and adjusting it according to the morbidity of each of the diseases. The procedure consisted in discounting from the lived years those that may be considered "lost due to the disease". These "lost" years are calculated based on the estimates of the amount of years lived with that disease and on the severities considered as pertinent for them. The negative impact of morbidity from diabetes, asthma, ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease on life expectancy increased during the studied decade. Cancer showed a different behavior and it was observed a reduciton of the negative effect of morbidity from this disease in 1995 as compared with 1990. The burden of morbidity from ischemic heart disease and diabetes is higher in women than in men (3,69 vs 3,05 and 0,46 vs 0,27, respectively, in 2000), whereas the opposite occurs with the cerebrovascular disease and cancer (1,23 vs 1,20 y 0,41 vs 0,33, respectively, in the same year). The ischemic heart disease had the greatest negative effect on life expectancy in the 3 studied years (relative difference for men of 3.05 % in 2000). The life expectancy resulting from this adjustment is a useful tool to compare the negative impact of morbidity from different diseases on life expectancy at a certain moment and to evaluate the tendency of its behavior throughout the course of time.

Keywords : Summary measures of the health status of a population; quality of life; non-communicable chronic diseases; morbimortality inidicators; life expectancy.

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