[Inequity in lost life years by Departments in Colombia 1985-2005].

OBJECTIVES Describing differences in years of life lost (LLY) regarding life expectancy at birth in Colombia amongst Departments during the study period. METHODS Data about life expectancy at birth by gender were taken from the Colombian Statistics Administration Department (DAÑE) databases for 1985-1990, 1995-2000 and 2000-2005. Data about the country having the best world health expectancy value was taken from World Health Organisation reports. LLY regarding life expectancy at birth (LEB) were estimated with relative differences between regional values and the best world value for the study periods. RESULTS LLY tended to become reduced for both genders throughout the whole study period; however, LLY was higher for women than men in some departments during the three periods. The worst LLY quintile for 1985-1990 was 18.98+/-2.36 mean LLY value for men and 18.45+/-2.43 for women. Mean LLY value for men was 16.99+/-1.7 and 16.01+71.46 for women for 1995-2000 and mean 15.99+/-1.34 LLY for men and 14.51+/-0.96 LLY for women for 2000-2005. LLY values for the best quintile for men and women were 7.41+/-0.65; 8.34+/-0.65 in 1985-1990, 7.22+/-0.62 and 8.59+/-0.31 in 1995-2000 and 7.72+/0.58 and 8.89+/-0.67 in 2000-2005, respectively. CONCLUSIONS There were differences in life expectancy at birth between departments and gender during the three periods studied. There was disparity regarding LLY compared to the best country in the world by department and gender in Colombia during the study periods.