Comparative Methodologic and Practical Considerations for Life Expectancy as a Public Health Mortality Measure

Life expectancy is a public health metric used to assess mortality. We describe life expectancy calculations for US counties and present methodologic considerations compared with years of potential life lost before age 75 (YPLL-75) and premature age-adjusted mortality (PAAM), 2 commonly used length-of-life metrics.

We used death data from the National Center for Health Statistics for 2015-2017 and other health measures from the 2019 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. We calculated life expectancy from birth at the county level using an abridged life table and the Chiang method of variance. Studentized residuals identified counties with discordant life expectancy and YPLL-75 or PAAM values. Correlations tested associations of life expectancy with key health measures (eg, smoking, child poverty, uninsured).

Among 3073 US counties, life expectancy ranged from 62.4 to 98.0 years, with a mean of 77.4 years. Life expectancy was strongly and negatively correlated with YPLL-75 (r = -0.91) and PAAM (r = -0.95) at the county level. Life expectancy was also associated with other key health metrics, such as smoking, employment, and education rates, where an improvement in the health factor indicated improvement in the respective length-of-life measure. Counties with discordant life expectancy and YPLL-75 or PAAM values had differing age structures.

Commonly used length-of-life metrics in population health settings are differentiated by methodological matters, such as computation complexity, data availability, and differential risk among age groups, especially among the very old or very young. The choice of metric should consider these factors, in addition to practical concerns, such as the communication needs of the audience.