Asbestosis-Related Years of Potential Life Lost Before Age 65 Years -- US, 1968-2005
To characterize trends in premature mortality attributed to asbestosis in the United States, CDC analyzed annual underlying cause-of-death data for 1968-2005, the most recent years for which data were available. This report describes the results of that analysis, which indicated that annual years of potential life lost before age 65 years (YPLL) attributed to asbestosis increased 64%, from an average of 146.0 YPLL per year during 1968--1972 to 239.6 per year during 2001-2005 (regression trend for the 5-year moving average, p<0.001), for an overall total of 7,267 YPLL (mean per decedent: 6.2) over the entire period. These results demonstrate that asbestosis-attributable YPLL continue to occur and that efforts to prevent, track, and eliminate asbestosis need to be maintained.
