Across the world and in India, people are living longer, with pain

Years Lived with Disability (YLDs) quantify the impact of health problems that impair mobility, hearing or vision, or cause pain in some way. In 2013, migraines, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and hearing loss were among the 10 leading causes of YLDs in India. Other top causes included neck pain, diabetes, anxiety disorders.

For both sexes, the leading causes of YLDs have remained largely the same for over two decades, but they take a higher toll on health due to population growth and aging.

For Indian women, musculoskeletal disorders, including shoulder injuries and fractures from osteoporosis, and diabetes have replaced diarrhoeal diseases and uncorrected refractive error as leading causes of years lived with disability.

Between 1990 and 2013, YLDs from diabetes increased by 109%, and YLDs from other musculoskeletal disorders increased by 110%. Iron-deficiency anaemia YLDs decreased by 12%. For Indian men too, diabetes YLDs increased between 1990 and 2013, climbing 136%. YLDs from COPD increased by 76%, and iron-deficiency anaemia YLDs decreased by 32%.

Global, Regional, and National Incidence, Prevalence, and Years Lived with Disability for 301 Acute and Chronic Diseases and Injuries in 188 Countries, 1990-2013: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 is the first study to examine the extent, pattern, and trends of non-fatal health loss across countries.

Published in The Lancet on June 8, the study was done by an international consortium of researchers working on the Global Burden of Disease Project, and led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. It used 35,620 distinct sources of data to calculate estimates for 301diseases.

“The health of Indians is increasingly threatened by depression, back pain, and migraines,” Dr Nobhojit Roy, professor at BARC Hospital and study co-author told The Indian Express. “At the same time, diseases like iron-deficiency anaemia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes are also costing Indians many years of healthy life.”

Between 1990 and 2013, YLDs increased globally from 537.6 million to 764.8 million for both sexes. Men and women around the world share the same leading causes of YLDs, with the exception of schizophrenia as a leading cause for men and other musculoskeletal disorders for women.

A relatively small number of diseases have a massive impact, researchers found. Just two caused more than 20 billion new cases globally in 2013: upper respiratory infections (18.8 billion) and diarrhoeal diseases (2.7 billion). And just eight causes of chronic diseases impacted more than 10 per cent of the world’s population.