Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) in Assam: Diarrhoeal disease tops the chart of leading causes

Diarrhoeal disease continues to top the chart of leading causes of Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) in Assam even though percentage of DALY due to Diarrhoeal disease has declined from 14 per cent in 1990 to 5.8 per cent in 2016. Stroke, which caused 5.6 per cent of DALYs in 2016 was recorded as the second leading cause of DALY. Stroke was at the ninth position of the chart in 1990 when it accounted for 3 per cent of DALY. This has been revealed in the “India: Health of the Nation’s States Report 2017”

Lower Respiratory infections which were the second leading cause of DALYs in 1990 was recorded as the third leading cause of DALY in 2016 and accounted for 5.1 per cent. It accounted for 7.9 per cent DALY in 1990.

Data also reveal that percentage of DALY due to Iron-deficiency anaemia has increased over the period from 1990 to 2016. It was at the tenth position of the chart in 1990 and accounted for 2.4 per cent of the DALY in the state. It has moved up the chart to eighth position in 2016 and accounted for 3.7 per cent of DALY.

“DALYs express the premature death and disability attributable to a particular cause, and are made up of two components: years of life lost (YLLs) and years of life lived with disability (YLDs). YLLs measure all the time people lose when they die prematurely, before attaining their ideal life expectancy. Ideal life expectancy is based on the highest life expectancy observed in the world for that person’s age group. YLDs measure years of life lived with any short- or long-term condition that prevents a person from living in full health. They are calculated by multiplying an amount of time (expressed in years) by a disability weight (a number that quantifies the severity of a disability),” the report explains.

“Adding together YLLs and YLDs yields DALYs, a measure that portrays in one metric the total health loss a person experiences during their life. Adding all instances of health loss in a population together – and thereby estimating burden of premature death and disability – enables policymakers and researchers to make comparative, actionable assessments of population health. Decision-makers can use DALYs to quickly compare the impact caused by very different conditions, such as cancer and depression, since the conditions are assessed using a single, comparable metric. Considering the number of DALYs instead of causes of death alone provides a more accurate picture of the main drivers of poor health. Information about changing disease patterns is a crucial input for decision-making, effective resource allocation, and policy planning,” the report states.

Leading Causes of DALYs 2016

Leading Causes of DALYs 1990

What risk factors are driving the most death and disability combined?

Contribution of top 10 risks to DALYs number, both sexes, ranked by number of DALYs, 1990-2016

Risk factors, 1990

( Source : India: Health of the Nation’s States Report, 2017. This report provides the first comprehensive set of findings for the distribution of diseases and risk factors across all states of the country from 1990 to 2016. These findings have been produced by the India State-level Disease Burden Initiative as part of the Global Burden of Disease Study collaboration, utilising all available data identified through an extensive effort involving over 200 leading health scientists and policymakers in India from about 100 institutions.

The India State-level Disease Burden Initiative is a collaboration between the Indian Council of Medical Research, Public Health Foundation of India, and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, and experts and stakeholders currently from close to 100 institutions across India. The goal of this Initiative, which was launched in October 2015, is to produce the best possible state-level disease burden and risk factors trends from 1990 onward as part of the Global Burden of Disease study, utilising all identifiable epidemiological data from India and in close engagement with the leading health scientists of India. The work of this Initiative is approved by the Health Ministry Screening Committee of the Indian Council of Medical Research. )