Table 1

Summary of notation and definitions

Notation

Definition

Introduced in Equation 1

x

Age

n

Age interval length

ex

Life expectancy at age x

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Standard life expectancy at age x

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Standard life expectancy for age interval x to x + n

nax

Average age of death for age interval x to x + n

Introduced in Equations 2 to 5

nYx

Expected years of life lost for age interval x to x + n

nDx

Number of deaths in age interval x to x + n

r

Discount rate (usually set to 0.03)

K

Age-weighting modulation constant (K = 0, no weighting; K = 1, weighting)

β

Age-weighting constant (set to β = 0.04)

C

Adjustment constant for age-weights (set to 0.1658)

Y LL

Expected years of life lost (Y LL = ∑nYx)

Equation 6

ASY R

Age-standardized Y LL rate (∑<a onClick="popup('http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/8/116/mathml/M3','MathML',630,470);return false;" target="_blank" href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/8/116/mathml/M3">View MathML</a>)

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Weighted expected years of life rate for age interval x to x + n

nyx

Expected years of life lost rate for age interval x to x + n

nNx

Population (person-year) estimate for age interval x to x + n

nwx

Year 2000 United States standard population as weights (∑nwx = 1)

nWx

Year 2000 United States standard population (∑nWx = 1,000,000)

Aragón et al. BMC Public Health 2008 8:116   doi:10.1186/1471-2458-8-116

Open Data