Years of potential life lost and productivity losses from male urogenital cancer deaths--United States, 2004

Abstract

Objectives: To estimate years of potential life lost (YPLL) and productivity losses due to deaths from male urogenital cancers in the United States in 2004.

Methods: To estimate YPLL, we applied a life expectancy method using 2004 national mortality data and life tables. To estimate lifetime productivity losses, we used human capital approach accounting for both the market value and the imputed value of housekeeping services. We calculated results for age and racial/ethnic groups and for 8 categories of male urogenital cancers.

Results: In 2004, deaths from urological cancers accounted for 244,080 YPLL, with an average of 14.4 YPLL per death, and deaths from genital cancers accounted for 309,921 YPLL, with an average of 10.5 YPLL per death. Kidney cancer accounted for 42.7% YPLL from male urological cancers, and prostate cancer accounted for 94.2% of the YPLL from male genital cancers. Testicular cancer had the highest average number of YPLL per death (37.9). Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 77.9% of the YPLL from male urogenital cancer deaths. Overall, urogenital cancers had the largest relative contribution to YPLL among men aged ≥50 years. In 2004, the estimated lifetime productivity loss because of deaths from male urogenital cancer was $10.4 billion USD, 10.6% of the estimated $97.9 billion USD loss because of deaths from all cancers among US men.

Conclusions: Urogenital cancers impose a considerable health and economic burden in terms of premature deaths and productivity losses in men in the United States, particularly among the elderly and non-Hispanic whites and blacks.