International Journal of Epidemiology 2000;29:871-877
© International Epidemiological Association 2000
Estimating the burden of disease in one Swiss canton: what do disability adjusted life years (DALY) tell us?
a Institut de médecine sociale et préventive, Faculté de médecine, Université de Genève, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
b Departamento de Salud Internacional, Escuela Nacional de Sanidad, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain.
Reprint request to: Dr Doris Schopper, Institut de médecine sociale et préventive, Faculté de médecine, Université de Genève, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland. E-mail: dschopper{at}geneva.msf.org
Background Examining life expectancy and general mortality rates, the health of the population of Geneva can be described as one of the best in the world. However, in some areas Geneva fares worse than the rest of Switzerland or Europe. To re-appraise the current health priorities of the Genevan population, we analysed the relative importance of specific diseases and injuries calculating DALYs.
Methods We followed the procedures developed for the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study to ensure comparability. Some adaptations were made for mortality coding. Disability was estimated based on data for countries classified as Established Market Economies (EME) in the GBD study.
Results Non-communicable diseases accounted for 79% of the disability adjusted life years (DALY), injuries represented 12%, and communicable diseases and other disorders 9%. Ischaemic heart disease was the largest single contributor to DALY, followed by unipolar major depression. Neuropsychiatric disorders and mental health accounted for more than 23% of DALY.
Conclusions Some of the most important problems identified—depression, osteoarthritis and alcohol abuse—would have been overlooked in an analysis based solely on mortality data. The most striking finding is the importance of mental health problems. The main limitation is the lack of morbidity data for Geneva.
Keywords DALY, YLD, YLL, health priorities, burden of disease, Switzerland
Accepted 17 February 2000
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  A. Lapostolle, A. Lefranc, I. Gremy, and A. Spira Sensitivity analysis in summary measure of population health in France Eur J Public Health, April 1, 2008; 18(2): 195 - 200. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 G. Turrell, J. W Lynch, C. Leite, T. Raghunathan, and G. A Kaplan Socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood and across the life course and all-cause mortality and physical function in adulthood: evidence from the Alameda County Study J. Epidemiol. Community Health, August 1, 2007; 61(8): 723 - 730. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Jankovic, H. Vlajinac, V. Bjegovic, J. Marinkovic, S. Sipetic-Grujicic, L. Markovic-Denic, N. Kocev, M. Santric-Milicevic, Z. Terzic-Supic, N. Maksimovic, et al. The burden of disease and injury in Serbia Eur J Public Health, February 1, 2007; 17(1): 80 - 85. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 N. Kunzli The public health relevance of air pollution abatement Eur. Respir. J., July 1, 2002; 20(1): 198 - 209. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|