The Epidemiology of Cardiovascular Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors 2010 Study
Section snippets
Methods
The core summary measurement of population health in the GBD 2010 Study was disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in the years 1990 and 2010. DALYs represent the “health gap” between a population’s actual health and an ideal standard. DALYs are composed of years of life lost (YLL) to premature deaths and years lived with non-fatal disease disability (YLD).3 Ten major CVD cause categories were defined based on International Classification of Disease (ICD) classifications: stroke, ischemic heart
Results
Compared with all other world regions, the sub-Saharan Africa region had the smallest proportion of disease burden attributed to CVD in 2010: 8.8% of total deaths, 3.9% of years of life lost, and 3.5% of DALYs (“tree plot” visualization of cause proportions, by region, available at http://viz.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/gbd-compare/). The corresponding CVD proportions for combined high-income regions were 35.7%, 27.2%, and 16.4%. Within sub-Saharan Africa, the Southern region had the highest
Discussion
The epidemiology of CVDs in sub-Saharan Africa is distinct because atherosclerosis causes only about half of CVDs. The GBD 2010 Study estimated that absolute CVD burden has increased in sub-Saharan Africa since 1990, with the largest relative increases in burden being atrial fibrillation and peripheral arterial disease—CVDs occurring most often in the elderly. Cerebrovascular disease, particularly hemorrhagic and other non-ischemic stroke, was the dominant source of CVD burden in the region.
Statement of Conflict of Interest
All authors have no conflicts of interest to report.
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Statement of Conflict of Interest: see page 238.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, or any other government entity.