A better understanding of mortality in young people.

摘要

A classic formulation depicts four steps needed to address urgent public health concerns: name the problem; identify causes of the threat to health; articulate the means for prevention, reduction, or control; and organise resources, mobilise supporters, and build the political agenda to implement step three. Two insights underpin these prerequisites for public health action. First, the greatest threat to the wellbeing of a population is not a particular disease or risk factor, irrespective of prevalence. Rather, the most corrosive effect on health comes from invisibility. In The Lancet, Russell Viner and colleagues recognise this issue in their creative efforts to quantify mortality in young people with data from 50 countries, the results of which they disaggregate across age groups and over time. They showed that in 2000-04, all-cause mortality was two-to-three times higher in young men (aged 15-24 years) than in young boys (1-4 years) in all country groups studied, and mortality in young women (15-24 years) was equal to that of young girls (1-4 years).