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Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL-75)

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Return to Premature Mortality Table of Contents

Read Next in Sonoma County Summary Measures of Health 2015-2017:
What are the Leading Causes of Premature Death?

What is Premature Mortality?

Premature deaths are deaths that occur before a person reaches an expected age. Premature death (mortality) rates are measured by the number of years of potential life lost before the age of 75 per 100,000 population, also known as Years of Potential Life Lost before age 75 or YPLL-75. This measure weights deaths occurring at younger ages more heavily. Because deaths in younger populations are more likely to be preventable than deaths in older populations, YPLL-75 is a useful measure for prioritizing public health interventions.

It is estimated that up to than half of all premature deaths in the United States are preventable. Most premature deaths may be preventable through lifestyle modifications such as smoking cessation, healthy eating, and exercise.4 Social and environmental factors such as poverty, racial segregation, low educational attainment, and inadequate social support also contribute to premature death.3

What are the Main Findings? 

  • The overall leading causes of premature death remained the same from 2013-2015 to 2015-2017.
  • Suicide rose from the fifth leading cause of premature death for women in 2013-2015 to the fourth leading cause in 2015-2017.
  • Compared to women in the county, Sonoma County men had significantly higher premature death rates for all leading causes of premature death except cancer.
  • American Indian/Alaska Native residents of the county had the highest premature death rates of all race/ethnicities examined, followed by white, non-Hispanics, and African American/Blacks. Asian/Pacific Islanders had the lowest premature death rate of all race/ethnic groups followed by Hispanic/Latino residents.
  • Premature death rates in the county decreased from 2005-2007 to 2012-2014 but increased from 2012-2014 to 2015-2017.
  • The premature death rate from unintentional injuries decreased from 2005-2007 to 2011-2013 but increased from 2011-2013 to 2015-2017 due largely to an increase in premature deaths from unintentional drug overdoses.
  • After decreasing significantly from 2007-2009 to 2011-2013, the premature death rate due to suicide increased by 32% from 2011-2013 to 2015-2017.
  • There were geographic disparities in premature death rates throughout the county. Cloverdale and Geyserville, the Russian River area, Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa had highest overall premature death rates. Sebastopol – West County and Petaluma had the lowest overall premature death rates of the geographies examined.
  • Cloverdale and Geyserville had significantly higher premature death rates than other geographies for many of the leading causes of premature death.

What can we do with this Information?

To reduce premature death in Sonoma County, policy and prevention efforts should target specific causes, populations, and communities with significantly higher premature death rates.