Impact of Cervical Cancer on Years of Life Lost (YLL)

Years of life lost (YLL) provides a measure of the years lost due to premature mortality.  It is a measurement of the total number of years of life that are lost due to a disease during a given time period and across a specified population.  YLL figures are based on mortality data and age at death.  The relative weighting of life at different ages helps to evaluate the effects of a disease on the economic productivity of individuals and their social roles, particularly child care.  This figure also gives an indication of the personal, emotional and economic impact of a disease.

The most recent, global analysis of YLL to cervical cancer is for the year 2000.  The data reveals how premature death from cervical cancer affects women in the prime of their lives, often while they are working and also still responsible for their children and their wider family (Yang et al 2004).

Among women between 25 and 64 years of age, cervical cancer contributes over 2.7 million YLL worldwide, which represents around 2% of the global YLL from all causes of disease.  This compares to 1.5 million YLL for lung cancer in women, which is 1.1% of YLL (Yang et al 2004).

(Reference: Yang et al 2004)

Lack of screening in many countries leads to a disproportionate burden of cervical cancer death and YLL because these cancers are only discovered at a later, more advanced stage.  The YLL rates for specific regions show that the risk of losing years of life from cervical cancer is higher in countries such as India and Zimbabwe, where access to cervical screening can be problematic, than in countries such as Japan and Denmark, where more women have access to screening.  For example, there are 11.5 times as many YLL to the disease per 1000 women in Zimbabwe as there are in Japan (Yang et al 2004).

Globally, the largest impact of cervical cancer on YLL is in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Central Asia and Latin America/Caribbean with age-standardised rates of 3.95, 4.10 and 3.21 YLL per 1,000 women respectively (Yang et al 2004).  This is likely to be due to a lack of screening programmes for cervical cancer.
In Latin America, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, cervical cancer is a more important cause of YLL than AIDS, tuberculosis and maternal conditions (Yang et al 2004).

Impact of cervical cancer on YLL in Europe

A total of 239,200 years of life were lost to cervical cancer across Europe (Yang et al 2004).

(Reference: Yang et al 2004)

Eastern European countries bore the greatest burden of YLL to cervical cancer at 139,900, followed by North and Western European countries at 66,900 with Southern European countries having the lowest burden of YLL at 32,400 (Yang et al 2004). 


To read more about the impact of cervical cancer on YLL in Africa, the Middle East, the Asia/Pacific region, Latin America and North America, please click here.