People around the world are living longer but with higher levels of sickness and disability, according to the largest ever study of the global burden of disease. The analysis, published in The Lancet, shows high blood pressure, smoking and drinking alcohol have become the highest risk factors for ill health. Mental illness is the largest contributor to disability, according to the report. Close to a quarter of the world’s disability burden is attributed to mental and behavioral disorders combined (22.7 per cent). These include major depressive disorder, anxiety, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia and bipolar disease. Major depressive disorder alone accounts for 8.1 per cent of the disability burden and is second only to low back pain. This compares with cardiovascular and circulatory diseases, which account for 2.8 per cent of the disability burden. The five-year project, involving almost 500 authors and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, found heart disease and stroke caused around one in four deaths-almost 13 million-worldwide in 2010.There’s been a sharp decline in deaths from diseases such as measles and tuberculosis, but chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease now cause about two out of every three deaths worldwide, up from just over half in 1990. (MHH Reporting, 12/17/12)
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