Global disability-adjusted life-year estimates of long-term health burden and undernutrition attributable to diarrhoeal diseases in children younger than 5 years

Publication date: March 2018 Source:The Lancet Global Health, Volume 6, Issue 3 Author(s): Christopher Troeger, Danny V Colombara, Puja C Rao, Ibrahim A Khalil, Alexandria Brown, Thomas G Brewer, Richard L Guerrant, Eric R Houpt, Karen L Kotloff, Kavita Misra, William A Petri, James Platts-Mills, Mark S Riddle, Scott J Swartz, Mohammad H Forouzanfar, Robert C Reiner, Simon I Hay, Ali H Mokdad Background Diarrhoea is a leading cause of death and illness globally among children younger than 5 years. Mortality and short-term morbidity cause substantial burden of disease but probably underestimate the true effect of diarrhoea on population health. This underestimation is because diarrhoeal diseases can negatively affect early childhood growth, probably through enteric dysfunction and impaired uptake of macronutrients and micronutrients. We attempt to quantify the long-term sequelae associated with childhood growth impairment due to diarrhoea. Methods We used the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study framework and leveraged existing estimates of diarrhoea incidence, childhood undernutrition, and infectious disease burden to estimate the effect of diarrhoeal diseases on physical growth, including weight and height, and subsequent disease among children younger than 5 years. The burden of diarrhoea was measured in disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), a composite metric of mortality and morbidity. We hypothesised that diarrhoea is negativ...
Source: The Lancet Global Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research