title: Productivity costs and years of potential life lost associated with five leading causes of death: Evidence from Iran (2006-2010).
abstract: Background:Economic burden due to premature mortalities is significant both on health system and on the society as a whole. This study aimed to determine the productivity costs and years of potential life lost associated with five leading causes of death in Iran from 2006 to 2010.Methods:Data on mortality by sex and age-groups due to five main leading causes of death (myocardial infarction (MI), cerebral vascular diseases (CVD), transport accidents (TA), hypertensive heart disease (HHD) and gastric cancer (GC)) were obtained from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education from 2006 to 2010 for 29 providences of Iran (data on Tehran province was not available). Three measures including years of potential life lost (YPLL), years of potential productive life lost (YPPLL) and the cost of productivity loss (CPL) due to premature mortality were used. To estimate the CPL and YPLL, the human capital approach and life expectancy method were used, respectively.Results:There were 518,815 deaths due to the five main leading causes of death; of which, 58% occurred in males. The estimated YPPLL resulted in 209,552,135 YPPLL from 2006 to 2011; of which, 141,966,592 (67%) were in males and 67,585,543 (33%) in females. The total cost of productivity loss caused by premature deaths due to the five leading causes of death was 7.86 billion dollars (US$) from 2006 to 2010, ranging from 1.63 billion dollars in 2006 to 1.31 billion dollars in 2010.Conclusion:This study revealed that the economic burden of premature mortalities due to the five main causes of death is substantial, and that these five leading causes should be considered in policy/decision making and prevention programms. The allocation of financial resources to control these causes may decrease their economic burden, resulting in higher level of health and well-being.
authors.affiliation: Professor of Epidemiology, Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran. farid_n32@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Farid
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Najafi
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor of Health Management, Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran. bkm_1344@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Behzad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Karami-Matin
authors.affiliation: PhD Student in Health Economics, Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran. satarrezaei@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Satar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rezaei
authors.affiliation: PhD, Deputy of Health, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran, Iran, & Non-communicable Diseases Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. ardeshir1344@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ardashir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khosravi
authors.affiliation: PhD Student in Health Economics, Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran. moslemsoofi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Moslem
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soofi
keywords: Economic Burden; Iran; Lost Productivity; Premature Mortality