Due to the significant socioeconomic burden of kidney diseases, we decided to analyse years of life lost (YLLs) from this cause in Poland between the years 2000 and 2019. The standard expected years of life lost (SEYLL) measure was used to calculate the number of YLLs, the value of which was related to the size of the study population and calculated per 100,000 persons (SEYLLp). A time trend analysis was performed using the Joinpoint regression method. In 2000, the number of YLLs for the entire population was 72,795 (SEYLLp = 190.3 years). After a period of minor changes between 2000 and 2011 (increasing at 0.9% per year), the YLL index rapidly declined between 2011 and 2015 (at -15.4% yearly) and then increased in the last years of the study period (at 12.5% yearly). These changes resulted in a decrease in the number of YLLs to 57,278 in 2019 (SEYLLp = 149.2). The deteriorating health status of Poles after 2015 most likely was caused by the aging of the population, as well as the increasing incidence of risk factors, in particular diabetes and arterial hypertension.
Keywords: Poland; epidemiology; kidney diseases; mortality; trends; years of life lost.