Cause-deleted life tables

Multiple decrement life tables offer answers to questions about the risks of dying from a particular cause in the presence of all other causes. In some cases we are, however, interested in the risks of dying in the absence of other causes. That is achieved by constructing cause-deleted life tables, which can help us quantify the hypothetical gains in life expectancy resulting from the elimination of a particular cause of death.

Cause-deleted life tables are sometimes also referred to as Associated Single Decrement Life Tables (ASDLT). As the name suggests, ASDLT represent the mortality experience of a population where only one decrement operates, but that decrement can be defined so that it is equivalent to a cause-deleted life tables. Imagine a situation where all causes of death are classified into two groups: malaria and other causes.

A cause-deleted life table will provide an estimate of the life expectancy of that population if malaria deaths were eliminated. That is the same as an ASDLT where the “other causes” are the only decrements that operate to decrease the population.