Major causes of disability, death shift around the globe: Chronic diseases now taking the lead

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1. Donya Currie

The main causes of death and disability around the globe have undergone a major shift, with chronic diseases now leading the way, according to a significant new study.

The Global Burden of Disease Study — published as an issue of The Lancet in December — is the result of decades of work to understand the leading causes of death and disability across the globe. The study found that chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes are in large part outpacing traditional public health targets such as malnutrition and childhood infectious diseases.

The study tracked 235 causes of death and included both broad data on deaths around the world as well as detailed profiles for health indictors in 187 countries. Researchers spent five years formulating measurements that allowed a comparison between 1990 and 2010. They found heart disease and stroke were the leading and second leading causes of death in both years. But while malnutrition dropped in the rankings from the 11th to the 21st most frequent cause of death in the two-decade period, diabetes, lung cancer and motor vehicle crashes all rose.

The study found life expectancy has improved worldwide, but disability is more prevalent. Mental illness and low back pain are the most common causes of disability, with mental illness responsible for 23 percent of “years lived with disability,” as described in the study, and low back pain linked to 11 percent.