Abridged Life Tables For Japan 2010

IV. Analysis by cause of death

1. Mortality probability by cause of death

Mortality probability by cause of death means the probability that a person of a given age will die from a specific cause of death in the future.

As for leading causes of death in 2010, the probability by malignant neoplasms was the highest for both males and females at age 0, followed by heart diseases, pneumonia, cerebrovascular diseases for males and H.C.P for females.

The mortality probability by three leading causes of death (i.e. malignant neoplasms, heart diseases and cerebrovascular diseases) accounts for over 50 percent of dying for both males and females.

Table 7. Mortality probability by causes of death

（％）
Cause of death	Age 0		Age 65		Age 75		Age 90
Cause of death	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Malignant neoplasms	29.66	20.50	29.17	18.64	25.88	16.46	15.11	9.86
Heart diseases	14.56	18.91	14.82	19.69	15.23	20.31	17.21	21.30
Cerebrovascular diseases	9.76	11.47	10.08	11.79	10.42	12.05	10.18	11.97
Pneumonia	12.15	11.18	13.62	11.81	15.27	12.44	19.80	14.38
Accidents	3.58	2.72	3.08	2.58	3.00	2.49	2.64	2.02
Traffic accidents	0.63	0.31	0.34	0.23	0.28	0.18	0.09	0.05
Suicide	2.52	1.07	0.78	0.45	0.50	0.30	0.28	0.10
Renal failure	1.99	2.37	2.19	2.49	2.38	2.57	2.90	2.58
Diseases of liver	1.31	0.79	0.91	0.71	0.64	0.61	0.31	0.29
Diabetes mellitus	1.08	1.10	1.04	1.12	0.95	1.08	0.68	0.81
Hypertensive diseases	0.45	0.91	0.48	0.96	0.52	1.01	0.74	1.29
Tuberculosis	0.23	0.13	0.25	0.14	0.27	0.14	0.30	0.10
Senility	2.93	8.93	3.37	9.54	4.03	10.31	9.29	16.09
Three leading causes of death (i.e. malignant neoplasms, heart diseases and cerebrovascular diseases)	53.97	50.88	54.07	50.12	51.52	48.81	42.49	43.14

2. Potential years of life lost

Assuming that a certain cause of death is eliminated, a person who should have died from the cause would die from another cause afterwards. As a result, one’s life span would be extended. This extension, which is called the potential years of life lost, can be regarded as one’s life lost by that cause of death, and it enables us to estimate the effect of that cause to one’s life expectancy.

In 2010, the potential years of life lost by malignant neoplasms were the longest at age 0, followed by heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, and pneumonia for both males and females.

Potential years of life lost by the three leading causes of death were 7.81 years for males and 6.78 years for females at age 0, 6.30 years for males and 5.55 years for females at age 65, 4.83 years for males and 4.70 years for females at age 75, 2.18 years for males and 2.67 years for females at age 90.

Table 8. Potential years of life lost

（years）
Cause of death	Age 0		Age 65		Age 75		Age 90
Cause of death	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Malignant neoplasms	3.91	3.01	3.05	2.04	2.08	1.43	0.60	0.47
Heart diseases	1.51	1.61	1.17	1.54	1.00	1.46	0.68	1.06
Cerebrovascular diseases	0.96	0.99	0.78	0.90	0.68	0.83	0.38	0.55
Pneumonia	0.90	0.79	0.93	0.79	0.95	0.79	0.80	0.67
Accidents	0.56	0.34	0.25	0.22	0.19	0.18	0.09	0.09
Traffic accidents	0.17	0.07	0.03	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.00
Suicide	0.77	0.35	0.09	0.06	0.04	0.03	0.01	0.01
Renal failure	0.15	0.18	0.14	0.17	0.14	0.16	0.10	0.11
Diseases of liver	0.23	0.12	0.10	0.08	0.05	0.05	0.01	0.02
Diabetes mellitus	0.13	0.11	0.09	0.10	0.06	0.08	0.03	0.04
Hypertensive diseases	0.04	0.06	0.03	0.06	0.03	0.06	0.03	0.05
Tuberculosis	0.02	0.01	0.02	0.01	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.01
Three leading causes of death (i.e. malignant neoplasms, heart diseases and cerebrovascular diseases)	7.81	6.78	6.30	5.55	4.83	4.70	2.18	2.67