Confusing cause and effect in public health policy

Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2024 Apr 7;45(2). Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTWhen studying the literature on current public health policy challenges, a number of rankings can be found, created from data collected and processed by different methods and from different sources, ordering the challenges by their significance. Inevitably, in global studies, there are errors caused by averaging data across populations that differ significantly in population size and the causes of the decline in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), potentially in combination with years of life lost (YLL) and years of life lived with disability (YLD), that may serve as indicators of the health status of a given population (Lopez 2005). Averaging data from populations that differ significantly in size, the larger population dominates and the main causes of health problems may be the same in both populations, and malnutrition and infectious diseases should be targeted, although in the smaller population cardiovascular disease is the main risk. A study published in 2018 shows that there are significant differences between countries and regions in the causes of the decline in DALYs and the increase in YLL and YLD (Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 2018). Some similarities in the order of factors influencing the above indicators can be found in populati...
Source: Neuroendocrinology Letters - Category: Endocrinology Authors: Source Type: research