Burden of Violent Death on Years of Life Lost in Rhode Island, 2006-2013

Mortality from injuries, particularly violent injuries, is more common among the young. Although traditional epidemiologic measures describe burden of death using rate-related mortalities, this method may not accurately represent burden of premature death. Years of life lost (YLLs) incorporate time discounting and age weighting to more accurately estimate the burden of death. To the authors' knowledge, there has been no examination of YLLs using the Rhode Island Violent Death Reporting System data. This study's objective was to assess the burden of violent death in Rhode Island in terms of YLLs.

This study used 2006-2013 Rhode Island Violent Death Reporting System data. YLLs as a result of premature violent deaths were assessed overall and by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and manner of death. Data were analyzed in 2015.

Suicide made the largest contribution to the overall YLLs (61.3%), followed by homicide (24.0%), whereas undetermined intent deaths captured by the system accounted for 14.8% of YLLs. In Rhode Island, people aged 25-44 years had the highest YLLs due to suicide, and Hispanics had the highest YLLs due to homicide/legal intervention. By comparison, using crude mortality rate calculations, people aged 45-64 years had the highest suicide mortality rate and non-Hispanic blacks had the highest homicide mortality rate.

YLL calculations provide a different picture than crude mortality-based assessments of the population at highest risk for violent death. This study demonstrates the strengths of using YLL to assess the burden of violent death at the state level.