Burden of Premature Mortality in Malaysia

Introduction Mortality estimates are important parameters for health monitoring and are routinely used as evidence for health policy and planning. This study aimed to estimate the mortality component of Burden of Disease in Malaysia in 2008. Methods The 2008 mortality data from the Statistics Department were used to estimate cause-specific mortality (by age and sex) in Malaysia. Data were coded using the ICD10 (International Classification of Disease) coding. Calculation of mortality component of Burden of Disease (ie: Years of Life Lost (YLL) was done using the standard Global Burden of Disease Methodology. Results The total estimated deaths in Malaysia in 2008 were 124,857, of which 72,202 (57.8%) were males. The total years of life lost (YLL) for the Malaysian population in 2008 was 1.51 million in which 0.92 million (60.7%) was among males. Almost three quarter (68%) of the burden of premature deaths resulted from non-communicable diseases, followed by communicable diseases (20%) and injury (12%). Among the top three leading causes of YLL were ischaemic heart disease (17.1%), stroke (9.6%) and road traffic injuries (8.3%). Conclusions In Malaysia, premature mortality mainly contributed by non-communicable diseases followed by communicable diseases and injury. A multi-agency collaboration is needed to prevent premature death and to improve quality of life.