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Health risks and issues

Featured health risks and issues

As part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, we produce estimates for more than 80 risk factors along with in-depth analysis for the world's most pressing health issues.

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Health topic

Air pollution

Air pollution affects millions of people worldwide. Both household and outdoor air pollution pose severe threats related to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancers, and other conditions.

Last updated
November 26, 2024
Health topic

Alcohol use

Alcohol use is a major risk factor for death and disability worldwide. In some countries, it is the number one risk factor for men.

Last updated
June 11, 2024
Health topic

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

AMR poses a major threat to human health around the world. AMR occurs when microorganisms, such as bacteria, adapt in ways that make currently available treatments for infections less effective.

Last updated
December 2, 2024
Health topic

Child health

Despite notable advancements and progress made by many countries in reducing child mortality rates, millions of children continue to lose their lives before turning five.

Last updated
June 12, 2024
Health topic

Diet

How much disease burden can be attributed to diet, and what components of our diet are most harmful? We explore the link between dietary changes and population health.

Last updated
October 8, 2024
Health topic

Maternal health

Maternal health refers to the health of women and childbearing people during pregnancy, childbirth, and the post-natal months. Despite overall improvement in maternal outcomes since 1990, disparities remain.

Last updated
July 31, 2024
Health topic

Mental health

Mental health conditions are among the top 10 leading causes of health loss worldwide, with anxiety and depression ranked as the most common across all age groups and locations.

Last updated
November 25, 2024
Health topic

Smoking and tobacco

While smoking prevalence has decreased over the past 30 years, the total number of smokers worldwide has continued to increase due to population growth, contributing significantly to disease burden.

Last updated
July 22, 2024
Burden of Proof

Which health studies are supported by strong evidence?

We investigated which popular health recommendations have the biggest impact, so everyone from health-conscious individuals to policymakers can better understand the strength of evidence behind certain risks and outcomes.

Publications

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Scientific Publication

Forecasting the effects of smoking prevalence scenarios on years of life lost and life expectancy from 2022 to 2050

Dana Bryazka, Marissa Reitsma, Emmanuela Gakidou, Stein Emil Vollset, Austin Ahlstrom, Jason Anderson, Aleksandr Aravkin, Natalia Bhattacharjee, Xiaochen Dai, Lalit Dandona, Rakhi Dandona, Luisa Sorio Flor, Gabriela Gil, Simon Hay, Stephen Lim, Paulina Lindstedt, Tomislav Mestrovic, Ali Mokdad, Vincent Mougin, Erin Mullany, Christopher J.L. Murray, Marie Ng, Tom Pham, Cat Raggi, Austin Schumacher, Amanda Smith, Asrat Wolde, Chun-Wei Yuan
October 2, 2024
Scientific Publication

Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance 1990–2021: a systematic analysis with forecasts to 2050

Mohsen Naghavi, Stein Emil Vollset, Kevin Ikuta, Christopher J.L. Murray, Benn Sartorius, Andy Stergachis, Simon Hay, Lucien Swetschinski, Authia Gray, Eve Wool, Tomislav Mestrovic, Georgia Smith, Chieh Han, Rebecca Hsu, Julian Chalek, Daniel Araki, Erin Chung, Cat Raggi, Anna Hayoon, Nicole Weaver, Paulina Lindstedt, Amanda Smith, Natalia Bhattacharjee, Tilleye Runghien, Austin Ahlstrom, Aleksandr Aravkin, Xiaochen Dai, John Fuller, Jiawei He, Hmwe Hmwe Kyu, Stephen Lim, Kelsey Maass, Theresa McHugh, Ali Mokdad, Vincent Mougin, QuynhAnh Nguyen, Maitreyi Sahu, Austin Schumacher, Noga Shalev, Theo Vos, Asrat Wolde, Chun-Wei Yuan
September 16, 2024

Interactive data visuals

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Interactive Data Visual

GBD Tobacco Forecasts

Explore patterns in future smoking scenarios from 2022 to 2050.

Last updated
October 2, 2024
Interactive Data Visual

MICROBE

The MICROBE (Measuring Infectious Causes and Resistance Outcomes for Burden Estimation) tool visualizes the fatal and nonfatal health outcomes of infections, pathogens, and antimicrobial resistance across different countries and regions.

Last updated
September 16, 2024
Interactive Data Visual

Burden of Proof

Compare strength of evidence for health risks and outcomes.

Last updated
May 16, 2024
Interactive Data Visual

Child Growth Failure

Delve into local patterns in child stunting, wasting, and underweight across all low- and middle-income countries from 2000 to 2019.

Last updated
January 8, 2024

Data input sources

The Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx) is home to the world's most comprehensive catalog of surveys, censuses, vital statistics, and other health-related data. Use our data input sources tool to explore the sources used in the latest round of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) estimation.

Open data catalog