To calculate the years of potential life lost, the analyst has to set an upper reference age.
For this reason, heart disease and cancer tend to get a lot of attention (and research funding).
However, one might argue that everyone has to die of something eventually, and so public health efforts should be more explicitly directed at preventing premature death.
[8] Here is a table of YPLL for all causes (ages 0–69, per 100,000) with the most recent available data from the OECD:[1] The report of the NSW Chief Medical Officer in 2002 indicates that cardiovascular disease (32.7% (of total Males Years of Life Lost due to premature mortality) and 36.6% of females YLL) and malignant neoplasms (27.5% of Males YLL and 31.2% of Females YLL) are the main causes of lost years [9] When disability adjusted life years are considered, cancer (25.1/1,000), cardiovascular disease (23.8/1,000), mental health issues (17.6/1,000), neurological disorders (15.7/1,000), chronic respiratory disease (9.4/1,000) and diabetes (7.2/1,000) are the main causes of good years of expected life lost to disease or premature death.
[10] The dramatic difference is in the greater number of years of disability caused mental illness and neurological issues and by diabetes.