The process of the restructuring of health care system in Lithuania demonstrates the need to continue the monitoring of changes in avoidable mortality.
Objective: To assess the level of avoidable mortality as well as its changes over time in Lithuania during 2001-2008 and to define the impact of avoidable mortality on life expectancy.
Material and methods: The mortality data were taken from the Lithuanian Department of Statistics. Twelve avoidable causes of deaths (treatable and preventable) were analyzed. Mortality trends were assessed by computing the average annual percent change (AAPC). The shortening of average life expectancy was computed from survival tables.
Results: During the period 2001-2008, the avoidable mortality was increasing more significantly (AAPC 3.0%, P<0.05) than the overall mortality (AAPC 1.7%, P<0.05) in the population aged 5-64 years. The increasing trend was mainly determined by mortality from preventable diseases (AAPC 4.6%, P<0.05). The avoidable causes of death reduced the life expectancy by 1.77 years (preventable by 1.12 and treatable by 0.63 years). Diversity in trends in mortality of different avoidable causes was disclosed. A declining trend in mortality caused by chronic rheumatic heart disease and lung cancer was observed for males (AAPC -22.6% and -2.1%, respectively; P<0.05). However, the mortality caused by liver cirrhosis was increasing for both genders (AAPC 16.1% for males and 17.6% for females, P<0.01) and that caused by tuberculosis - only for females (AAPC 7.8%, P<0.05).
Conclusions: An increasing trend in avoidable mortality was observed. Deaths caused by the diseases that could have been prevented had the greatest impact on the increasing mortality and decreasing life expectancy.