Introduction
The major findings in Chapter 1 were from the WHO Global Burden of Disease Study and global tobacco use studies, both of which used standard methods across countries. However, further regional comparisons are challenging for two reasons: few other NCD studies are available across the region in all the countries, and studies that are available often use different methods and analyses that limit valid comparisons.
Several design and analytical issues come into play that can affect both the reported disease burden and risk factors. These including urban and rural status, age range (NCDs are more common with aging); institution-based studies (hospital and clinics) that do not represent the entire population (participants tend to be less healthy); measurement protocols for anthropometrics, blood pressure, glucose, and lipid levels; and cut-off points and thresholds used to define disease or risk.
However, despite these limitations, available studies provide valuable country-level data that can be very useful in shedding more light on the extent of the problem and in focusing prevention and control efforts. The approach here has been to briefly summarize important demographic and NCD burden trends for each South Asian country.
No comments:
Post a Comment