The long-awaited Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2010 Study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation was published in The Lancet Dec. 14 receiving worldwide press coverage. Here is what the media are saying:
The New York Times wrote an opinion "At Year’s End, News of a Global Health Success." A massive study published last week called the Global Burden of Disease report found that in the past 20 years, the death rate of children under 5 has dropped in every country in the world save three — Kuwait, Tonga and Zimbabwe. Stunning gains took place in all regions, under all economic and political systems and at all income levels: El Salvador, China, Oman and Portugal all saw drops of more than 70 percent. Even North Korea did just about as well as South Korea — a 49.9 percent drop in the North, 55.1 percent in the South.
The New York Times wrote Life Expectancy Rises Around the World, Study Finds. “A sharp decline in deaths from malnutrition and diseases like measles and tuberculosis has caused a shift in global mortality patterns over the past 20 years, according to a new report, with far more of the world’s population now living into old age and dying from diseases more associated with rich countries, like cancer and heart disease. The shift reflects improvements in sanitation, medical services and access to food throughout the developing world, as well as the success of broad public health efforts like vaccine programs. The results are dramatic: infant mortality has declined by more than half between 1990 and 2010, and malnutrition, the No. 1 risk factor for death and years of life lost in 1990, has fallen to No. 8.”
The Economist wrote Lifting the burden: People are living longer than ever before. But what they are dying of is changing. “’THIRD WORLD’ is not a term much used today. Most developing countries, as they were once euphemistically known, really are now developing—and doing so fast. So it is not surprising their disease patterns are changing, too, just as happened in the rich world. Deaths from infectious disease are down. Rates of non-transmissible illness—often chronic and frequently the result of obesity (see special report) are rising. The panjandrums of global health are struggling to keep up.”
The Guardian ran a nice two-page spread on GBD 2010, including great graphic illustrations of some of the findings. The Guardian liked the data visualizations created by IHME’s data team and the IT team so much that it posted some of them on its website: Global burden of disease: the key data, and more. “Life expectancy in most countries has increased by around 10 years over the past four decades – but huge discrepancies remain between the richest and poorest nations, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. The study, published in the Lancet, has taken more than five years and involves 486 authors in 50 countries.”
Humanosphere quoted the head of the UW Dept of Global Health, King Holmes, challenging Christopher Murray's displacement of infectious disease.
The Pan American Health Organization publicized the story on its popular Equidad listserv and promoted today’s symposium at the Royal Society.
The Associated Press wrote We’re living longer, but sicker: Study finds life expectancy rising but so is disability. “Nearly everywhere around the world, people are living longer and fewer children are dying. But increasingly, people are grappling with the diseases and disabilities of modern life, according to the most expansive global look so far at life expectancy and the biggest health threats. The last comprehensive study was in 1990 and the top health problem then was the death of children under 5 — more than 10 million each year. Since then, campaigns to vaccinate kids against diseases like polio and measles have reduced the number of children dying to about 7 million.”
O Globo in Brazil wrote Alcoolismo é o principal fator de risco para a saúde dos brasileiros. “O alcoolismo é o principal fator de risco de saúde no Brasil. A informação é da Carga Global de Doenças 2010, documento organizado pelo Instituto de Métrica e Avaliação de Saúde (IHME) da Universidade de Washington e com parceria de dezenas de universidades ao redor do mundo. O resultado do esforço global, que será divulgado hoje na revista científica The Lancet, lista 67 problemas que mais afetam a população em todo o mundo. No planeta, o maior mal é a pressão arterial alta, que em 2010, ano referência da pesquisa, matou 9 milhões de pessoas e afeta 173 milhões de indivíduos.”
The Financial Times wrote Infections drop down list of big killers. "The pace of change means doctors trained, and countries and development institutions established, 25 years ago cannot keep [up]," said Dr. Christopher Murray.”
The Washington Post wrote New Burden of Disease study shows world’s people living longer but with more disability, and they created a cool data visualization based on our data. “’We are in transition to a world where disability is the dominant concern as opposed to premature death,’ said Christopher J.L. Murray, who headed the Global Burden of Disease Study, published Thursday. ‘The pace of change is such that we are ill prepared to deal with what the burden of disease is now in most places.’ Produced over five years by 486 researchers at 302 institutions in 50 countries, the study is the most detailed look at health on the population level ever attempted.The health of most of the planet’s population is rapidly coming to resemble that of the United States, where death in childhood is rare, too much food is a bigger problem than too little, and life is long and often darkened by disability.”
The Daily Telegraph wrote Obesity killing three times as many as malnutrition. “With the exception of sub-Saharan Africa, eating too much is now a more serious risk to the health of populations than eating poorly, found the Global Burden of Disease study, published in a special edition of The Lancet. Across the world, there has been significant success in tackling malnutrition, with deaths down two-thirds since 1990 to less than a million by 2010. But increasing prosperity has led to expanding waistlines in countries from Colombia to Kazakhstan, as people eat more and get less everyday exercise.”
Forbes wrote Hypertension And Smoking Top List Of Global Risk Factors. “Worldwide, hypertension and tobacco smoking are the single largest causes of death and disability, according to findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010), the largest ever assessment and analysis of global health and disease. In an unprecedented move, the Lancet devoted an entire issue to the study, including seven separate articles and eight comments.”
BBC News wrote We live 'longer but sicker' as chronic diseases rise. “People around the world are living longer but with higher levels of sickness, according to the largest ever study of the global burden of disease. The Lancet analysis shows high blood pressure, smoking and drinking alcohol have become the highest risk factors for ill health. They replace child malnourishment, which topped the list in 1990.”
Reuters wrote A sick world: We live longer, with more pain and illness. “The world has made huge progress fighting killer infectious diseases, but as a result we now lead longer and sicker lives, with health problems that cause us years of pain, disability and mental distress. This ‘devastating irony,’ as researchers describe it, is the main conclusion of a five-year study that forms the most comprehensive assessment of global health in the history of medicine, according to the journal publishing the research.”
And The Guardian wrote Life expectancy around world shows dramatic rise, study finds. “Life expectancy around the world has risen dramatically, by 11 years for men and 12 years for women over the last four decades, but we are paying the price in more mental and physical health problems, according to the biggest-ever study of the global burden of disease. A massive international research project, which took five years and involved 500 people, has produced the most comprehensive and ambitious database of the world's health ever attempted. It shows dramatic changes since 1970, with the rapid decline in deaths from infectious diseases and malnutrition and the vastly improved survival of small children.”
The Global Burden of Diease Study published in The Lancet Dec. 14 finds fewer people dying but more live with disability. Mental health disorders, pain, and injuries are hindering people’s health. Obesity and high blood sugar are replacing lack of food as leading risks.
