The global burden of musculoskeletal diseases has increased by a third this century, according to an analysis published today.
As the overall musculoskeletal burden is expected to increase due to rising average life expectancy, Professor Laurent Arnaud of Strasbourg University Hospitals, France, and colleagues analysed the worldwide burden of musculoskeletal diseases from 2000 to 2015.
Disability-adjusted life years in 183 countries were extracted from World Health Organisation figures.
This showed that worldwide, the total number of musculoskeletal disability-adjusted life years rose significantly from 80,225,635 in 2000 to 107,885,833 in 2015. During this period, years of productive life lost also increased significantly, from 2,847,925 million to 4,067,924 million.
The researchers found a significant link between the proportion of musculoskeletal disability-adjusted life years and national GDP, “indicating the financial impact musculoskeletal conditions have in high income countries”.
In Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases today (1 May), the researchers state: “We observed a significant correlation between the proportion of musculoskeletal disability-adjusted life years and the gross domestic product per capita for the year 2015.”
They conclude: “The burden of musculoskeletal diseases increased significantly between 2000 and 2015 and is high in Europe. These results are crucial to health professionals and policy makers to implement future health plan adjustments for musculoskeletal diseases”.
Sebbag, E. et al. The worldwide burden of musculoskeletal diseases: a systematic analysis of the World Health Organization Burden of Diseases Database. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 1 May 2019 doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2019-215142
http://ard.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/annrheumdis-2019-215142
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