1. Importance of non-communicable diseases in developed countries (mortality, morbidity, trends)

• Most important non-communicable diseases in high-income countries
  • CVD
  • Cancer
  • Chronic respiratory disease
• NCD
  • cause more than 75% of deaths in high-income countries yearly
  • are more important in high-income than low-income countries
    • due to diet, social status
  • are becoming more important in low-income countries as well (as communicable diseases are becoming less of a problem)
  • In all ages:
    • CVD 48%
    • Cancer 21%
    • Others 16%
  • < 60 year olds
    • CVD 35%
    • Cancer 28%
    • Others 26%
• Disease adjusted life years (DALY)
  • One DALY is one lost year of “healthy” life
  • DALY = years of life lost + years lost due to disability
  • Most DALYs are in high-income countries
• Top causes of death in world
  • Ischaemic heart disease – 7 million per year – 13%
  • Stroke, cerebrovascular disease
  • Lower respiratory tract infections
• Top causes of death in low-income countries
  • Lower RTI
  • Diarrhoeal diseases
  • HIV/AIDS
• Morbidity – the disease burden in a population
  • Incidence and prevalence of a disease
• Mortality – the occurrence of death in a population
• Communicable diseases are less important in high-income countries due to vaccines, treatment, etc