Global Burden of Disease 2010 Project highlights the pressing need to prevent, treat spinal and musculoskeletal disorders
A series of studies emerging from the Global Burden of Disease 2010 Project1 clarifies the worldwide health burden of musculoskeletal conditions, particularly back and neck pain. Low back pain has been identified as the number-one cause of disability worldwide and neck pain the number-four cause.
Overall, musculoskeletal conditions represent the second leading cause of global disability.
Findings show that the burden of disability is making a larger footprint in global health compared to a mere 20-30 years ago. In addition, while more people are living longer, they do so with an increasing risk of living with the burden of pain, disability and disease compared to generations past.
In addition, the Global Burden of Disease 2010 project found:
§ Musculoskeletal conditions such as low back pain, neck pain and arthritis affect more than 1.7 billion people worldwide and have a greater impact on the health (in terms of death and disability) of the world population than HIV/AIDS, tropical diseases including malaria, the forces of war and nature, and all neurological conditions combined.
§ When considering death and disability in the health equation, musculoskeletal disorders cause 21.3% of all years lived with disability (YLDs), second only to mental and behavioral disorders, which account for 22.7% of YLDs.
§ Musculoskeletal conditions represent the sixth leading cause of death and disability worldwide.
§ Low back pain is the most dominant musculoskeletal condition, accounting for nearly one-half of all musculoskeletal YLDs. Neck pain accounts for one-fifth of musculoskeletal YLDs.
§ Low back pain is the sixth most important contributor to the global disease burden, and has a greater impact on global health than COPD, tuberculosis, diabetes , and even malaria.
§ When combined with neck pain, painful spinal disorders are second only to ischemic heart disease in terms of their impact on the global burden of disease. Spinal disorders have a greater impact than HIV/AIDS, malaria, lower respiratory infections, stroke, breast and lung cancer combined, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, depression or traffic injuries.
§ Current estimates suggest more than 632 million people worldwide suffer from low back pain and 332 million people worldwide suffer from neck pain.
The Global Burden of Disease Study provides indisputable evidence that musculoskeletal conditions are an enormous and emerging problem in all parts of the world. They need to be given the same priority as other major conditions like cancer, mental health and cardiovascular disease.
The seven studies from Global Burden of Disease 2010, as well as accompanying commentaries, appear in The Lancet.
1 A massive collaboration between the World Health Organization, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (the coordinating center), the University of Queensland School of Population Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the University of Tokyo, Imperial College London
Edited from an article by Peter W. Crownfield, Executive Editor
