ABSTRACT
This chapter provides data on the burden of disease, including mortality estimates across the four World Bank income groups (low, low-middle, upper-middle and high) over the period 1990 to 2019 for the four main NCDs (cardiovascular disease – including ischaemic heart disease and stroke, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases). The NCD burden in terms of total numbers (which are influenced by population size and age distribution) is important for the planning of health services. Age-adjusted rates provide information on epidemiological trends and impact of prevention and control policies and programmes. The fractions (proportions) of NCDs that are attributable to selected behavioural, metabolic and environmental risk factors provide estimates on the maximal potential impact of preventive and control strategies. The chapter describes sources of data for describing NCDs, including the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Disease Burden project and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Health Observatory.
