Background and objective: Burden of disease (DALYs) can help define health priorities. Our objective was to assess DALYs of those illnesses most important in Spanish children and teenagers.
Material and method: We calculated DALYs components (YLL, YLD) by age groups and sex. Sources used were Spanish mortality data and WHO DALY's estimates.
Results: Total DALYs was 46.57/1000 habitants and it was highest in children aged less than 1 year. The first cause was represented by non-communicable diseases and the second by communicable-perinatal diseases in less than 1 year and 1-4 years and injuries in 5-14 years.
Conclusions: DALYs is a good indicator to define health's population.