Authors:
Lim SS; Vos T; Flaxman AD; Danaei G; Shibuya K; Adair-Rohani H; … Carapetis J; et al.
Authors notes:
The Lancet. 2012;380(9859):2224-2260
Keywords:
Disease burden, Risk Factors, Injury
Abstract:
Quantification of the disease burden caused by different risks informs prevention by providing an account of health loss different to that provided by a disease-by-disease analysis.
No complete revision of global disease burden caused by risk factors has been done since a comparative risk assessment in 2000, and no previous analysis has assessed changes in burden attributable to risk factors over time.
Dietary risk factors and physical inactivity collectively accounted for 10 0% (95% UI 9 2-10 8) of global DALYs in 2010, with the most prominent dietary risks being diets low in fruits and those high in sodium.
Several risks that primarily affect childhood communicable diseases, including unimproved water and sanitation and childhood micronutrient deficiencies, fell in rank between 1990 and 2010, with unimproved water ' and sanitation accounting for 0 9% (0 4-1 6) of global DALYs in 2010.
Worldwide, the contribution of different risk factors to disease burden has changed substantially, with a shift away from risks for communicable diseases in children towards those for non-communicable diseases in adults.
These changes are related to the ageing population, decreased mortality among children younger than 5 years, changes in cause-of-death composition, and changes in risk factor exposures.
The extent to which the epidemiological shift has occurred and what the leading risks currently are varies greatly across regions.