Potential years of life lost: what is the denominator?

OBJECTIVE To suggest an appropriate denominator for use with the statistic "potential years of life lost", in order to facilitate valid comparisons between health authorities. DESIGN Analysis of OPCS population and mortality data for the period 1987-91. SETTING Data for Wales were analysed to provide comparisons between the nine district health authorities. SUBJECTS There were 46,139 males and 30,258 females--that is, all deaths of Welsh residents, aged under 75 years, during the period 1987-91. MAIN RESULTS The use of age sensitive denominators with the potential years of life lost statistic alters the rank position of Welsh district health authorities. CONCLUSION It is suggested that potential years of life lost should be expressed as a rate per 100,000 potential years of life in public health common data sets, and elsewhere, to facilitate valid comparisons between health authorities.