Years of Life Lost due to Premature Death in People with Disabilities in Korea: the Korean National Burden of Disease Study Framework

Background: Several studies have been conducted regarding people with disabilities, however no studies have estimated the disease burden due to premature death. As such, we aimed to compare the years of life lost (YLLs) due to premature death between a population with disabilities and the total population of Korea. Methods: To calculate the YLLs in people with disabilities, we combined disability registration data from the 2002-2011 Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea and the causes of mortality data by Statistics Korea for 3,158,231 people. Results: YLLs of people with disabilities were 517,337, which accounted for 23.4% of YLLs of the total population. YLLs per 100,000 people with disabilities were approximately 3.8 times higher than those in the total Korean population. Ischemic stroke was associated with the highest YLLs per 100,000 people, followed by ischemic heart disease, hemorrhagic, and other non-ischemic stroke, diabetes mellitus, and self-harm. Among individuals with physical disabilities, ischemic heart disease was associated with the highest YLLs. For intellectual disability, epilepsy contributed to the most YLLs. For individuals with mental disability, self-harm was the largest contributor to YLLs. Conclusion: The burden of disease was higher in the population with disabilities than that in the general population. Cardiovascular diseases and cancer had a higher burden of disease than did other diseases in the population with disabilities; thus, overall, non-communicable diseases have a higher burden of disease than communicable diseases or injuries in the population with disabilities than in the general population.