Acute incidence
The number of new cases of acute sequelae that develop in a population in given period of time. Acute sequelae are those sequelae with a duration of less than three months.
Acute prevalence
The number of cases of acute sequelae that are present in a particular population at a given time. Acute sequelae are those sequelae with a duration of less than three months.
Age-standardization
A statistical technique used to compare populations with different age structures, in which the characteristics of the populations are statistically transformed to match those of a reference population. Useful because relative over- or under-representation of different age groups can obscure comparisons of age-dependent diseases (e.g., ischemic heart disease or malaria) across populations.
Alcohol use
Any alcohol consumption.
All-cause under-5 mortality
The probability (expressed as the rate per 1,000 live births) that children born alive will die before reaching the age of 5 years.
Ambient particulate matter pollution
Ambient concentration of particles with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 2·5 μm at levels greater than 5.8-8.8 μg/m³*.
Amenable burden
Disease burden that could be avoided in the presence of high-quality personal health care. To be considered a cause amenable to personal health care, widely available and effective interventions must exist for the disease.
Antenatal care (ANC4) coverage
The proportion of women 15 to 49 years old who had four or more antenatal visits at a health facility during pregnancy.
Attributable burden
The share of the burden of a disease that can be estimated to occur due to exposure to a particular risk factor.
Avertable burden
Disease burden that could be avoided in the presence of high-quality personal health care in addition to disease burden that could be prevented through effective public health (i.e., non-personal) interventions.
Avoidable burden
The reduction in future disease burden if observed levels of risk factor exposure were decreased to a counterfactual level.
BCG immunization coverage
The proportion of children under 5 years old who have been vaccinated against tuberculosis.
Childhood underweight
The proportion of children under 5 years old who are two or more standard deviations below the international anthropometric reference population median of weight for age.
Chronic prevalence
Prevalence of chronic sequelae. Chronic sequelae are those sequelae with a duration three months or longer.
Developed vs. developing
Please see Socio-demographic Index (SDI).
Development assistance for health (DAH)
Financial and in-kind resources that are transferred through major international development agencies (such as UNICEF, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, or the Gates Foundation) to low- and middle-income countries with the primary purpose of maintaining or improving health.
Diet high in processed meat
Consumption of any processed meat (includes meat preserved by smoking, curing, salting, or addition of chemical preservatives, including bacon, salami, sausages, or deli or luncheon meats like ham, turkey, and pastrami).
Diet high in red meat
Consumption of more than 1 serving (4 ounces total) per week of red meat (includes beef, pork, lamb, and goat but excludes poultry, fish, eggs, and all processed meats).
Diet high in sodium
Consumption of more than 1,000 milligrams of sodium per day.
Diet high in sugar-sweetened beverages
Consumption of any beverage with ≥50 calories of sugar per one-cup serving, including carbonated beverages, sodas, energy drinks, fruit drinks but excluding 100% fruit and vegetable juices.
Diet high in trans fatty acids
Consumption of more than 0.5% of total calories from trans fatty acids (includes trans fat from all sources, mainly hydrogenated vegetable oils and animal products).
Diet low in calcium
Intake of less than 1200 milligrams of calcium per day from all sources, including milk, yogurt, and cheese.
Diet low in fiber
Consumption of less than 30 grams of fiber per day from all sources including fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and pulses.
Diet low in fruits
Consumption of less than 3 servings (11 ounces total) of fruits per day (includes fresh, frozen, cooked, canned, or dried fruit but excludes fruit juices and salted or pickled fruits).
Diet low in milk
Consumption of less than 2 cups per day of milk including non-fat, low-fat, and full-fat milk but excluding soy milk and other plant derivatives.
Diet low in nuts and seeds
Consumption of less than 4 servings (4 ounces total) of nuts and seeds per week, such as peanut butter.
Diet low in polyunsaturated fatty acids
Less than 12% of total calories from polyunsaturated fatty acids (includes polyunsaturated fatty acids from all sources, including liquid vegetable oils such as soybean oil, corn oil, and safflower oil).
Diet low in seafood omega-3 fatty acids
Less than 250 milligrams per day of seafood omega-3 fatty acids (eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) in tablet or fish form.
Diet low in vegetables
Consumption of less than 4 servings (14 ounces total) of vegetables per day (includes fresh, frozen, cooked, canned, or dried vegetables including legumes but excluding salted or pickled, juices, nuts and seeds, and starchy vegetables such as potatoes or corn).
Diet low in whole grains
Consumption of less than 2.5 servings (4 ounces total) per day of whole grains (bran, germ, and endosperm in their natural proportions) from breakfast cereals, bread, rice, pasta, biscuits, muffins, tortillas, pancakes, and others.
Disability weights
Numerical representations of the severity of health loss associated with a health state. Derived from a worldwide, cross-cultural study to compare the relative severity of health problems, disability weights are numbers between 0 and 1 that are multiplied by the time spent living with a health loss to determine the years lived with disability associated with the cause of that loss.
Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)
The sum of years lost due to premature death (YLLs) and years lived with disability (YLDs). DALYs are also defined as years of healthy life lost.
DPT3 coverage
The proportion of children 12 to 59 months old who have received three doses of the diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) vaccine.
Drug use
Use of cannabis, opioids, or amphetamines, or use of injecting drugs.
Exclusive breastfeeding coverage
The proportion of children who were exclusively breastfed during their first six months after birth.
Expected human capital
The attributes of a population that, along with physical capital such as buildings, equipment, and other tangible assets, contribute to economic productivity. These attributes include aggregate levels of education, training, skills, and health in a population that affect the rate at which technologies can be developed, adopted, and employed to increase productivity.
Expected value
Value predicted by probability (for example, how many questions one might get right if one guessed on a multiple choice test); these are used in comparison to values that are actually observed. Statistical tests are used to measure the difference between the observed and expected values.
Frontier analysis
An econometric method whereby maximum output is measured on the basis of inputs.
Garbage codes
Cause codes assigned by physicians on death certificates that cannot or should not be considered the actual underlying cause of death.
Global Burden of Disease super-regions
Seven regions which group sub-regions based on cause of death patterns. Super-regions are as follows: GBD high-income; Latin America and the Caribbean; sub-Saharan Africa; Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania; Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia; South Asia; and North Africa and the Middle East.
Government health spending
Spending for health care that is derived from domestic sources and is mutually exclusive from out-of-pocket, prepaid private, and development assistance for health (DAH) spending. Government spending includes spending on public health system infrastructure and government-provided social health insurance.
Health financing transition
The major shift that most countries experience from an early period in which health spending is low and primarily out-of-pocket to a later period in which health spending is high and primarily pooled.
Health states
Groupings of sequelae that reflect key differences in symptoms and functioning.
Healthcare Access and Quality Index (HAQ)
A summary measure of personal health care access and quality for a given location. HAQ is based on risk-standardized mortality rates from causes that, in the presence of high-quality health care, should not result in death – also known as amenable mortality.
Healthy life expectancy (HALE)
The number of years that a person at a given age can expect to live in good health, taking into account mortality and disability. While life expectancy summarizes a population’s mortality experience, HALE uses the same concept, but adjusts years lived at each age by the probability of health loss. The average amount of health loss a person experiences rises with age. For people at older ages, remaining years are therefore more affected by disability, so HALE adjusts downwards those remaining years of life more than for younger people.
High blood pressure
Blood pressure higher than 110-115 mm Hg*.
High body mass index (BMI)
Body mass index higher than 21.0-23·0 kg/m²*.
High fasting plasma glucose
Fasting plasma higher than 4.9-5.3 mmol/L*.
High total cholesterol
Total cholesterol greater than 3.8-4.0 mmol/L*.
Incidence
The number of new cases of a given disease during a given period in a specified population. It also is used for the rate at which new events occur in a defined population. It is differentiated from prevalence, which refers to all cases, new or old, in the population at a given time.
Indoor residual spraying coverage
The proportion of households that were sprayed with an insecticide-based solution in the last 12 months.
Insecticide-treated net (ITN)
A net treated with an insecticide-based solution that is used for protection against mosquitos that can carry malaria.
Intermittent preventive therapy in pregnancy, two doses (IPTp2)
The proportion of pregnant women who received at least two treatment doses of Fansidar (sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine) at antenatal care visits during pregnancy.
Intervention coverage
The proportion of individuals or households who received an intervention that they needed.
ITN ownership
The proportion of households that own at least one ITN.
ITN use by children under 5
The proportion of children under 5 years old who slept under an ITN the previous night, as reported by household heads.
Life expectancy
Number of years a person is expected to live based on their present age. For GBD, the life expectancy for an age group (e.g., 50- to 54-year-olds), is determined from the first year in the age range.
Maternal mortality ratio (MMR)
The number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. GBD defines maternal deaths as any death of a woman while pregnant or within one year of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes. Ages included range from 10 to 54 years.
Measles immunization coverage
The proportion of children 12 to 59 months old who have received measles vaccination.
Out-of-pocket health spending
Payments made by individuals for health maintenance, restoration, or enhancement at or after the time of health care delivery, including health insurance copayments or payments devoted to deductibles. Health insurance premiums are not considered out-of-pocket.
Pentavalent immunization coverage
The proportion of children 12 to 59 months old who have received the pentavalent vaccine, which includes protection against diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT), hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenzae type b.
PHMRC
Population Health Metrics Research Consortium. A project that aims to address Grand Challenge #13: Develop technologies that permit quantitative assessment of population health.
Physical inactivity and low physical activity
Less than 8,000 metabolic equivalent (MET)-minutes per week, with one MET being the energy spent while sitting quietly.
Polio immunization coverage
The proportion of children 12 to 59 months old who have received three doses of the oral polio vaccine.
Prepaid private health spending
Health spending sources from non-public programs that are funded prior to obtaining health care, such as private health insurance and services provided for free by non-governmental agencies.
Prevalence
The total number of cases of a given disease in a specified population at a designated time. It is differentiated from INCIDENCE, which refers to the number of new cases in the population at a given time.
Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT)
The receipt of antiretroviral drugs as prophylaxis to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV among HIVpositive pregnant women.
Rate per 100K
This estimate shows in a single country-year-age-sex, the deaths due to cause X divided by the population.
Risk factors
Potentially modifiable causes of disease and injury.
Risk standardization
A process of removing the joint effects of environmental and behavioral risk exposure on cause-specific mortality rates at the country or territory level for each year of analysis, and then adding back the global average of environmental and behavioral risk exposure for every geography-year in order to eliminate geographic or temporal differences in cause-specific mortality due to variations in risk factors that are not immediately targeted by health care.
Sequelae
Consequences of diseases and injuries.
Skilled birth attendance coverage
The proportion of pregnant women 15 to 49 years old who delivered with a skilled birth attendant (a doctor, nurse, midwife, or clinical officer).
Socio-demographic Index (SDI)
A summary measure that identifies where countries or other geographic areas sit on the spectrum of development. Expressed on a scale of 0 to 1, SDI is a composite average of the rankings of the incomes per capita, average educational attainment, and fertility rates of all areas in the GBD study.
Summary exposure value (SEV)
A measure of a population’s exposure to a risk factor that takes into account the extent of exposure by risk level and the severity of that risk’s contribution to disease burden. SEV takes the value zero when no excess risk for a population exists and the value one when the population is at the highest level of risk; we report SEV on a scale from 0% to 100% to emphasize that it is risk-weighted prevalence.
Tobacco smoking
Any tobacco smoking.
Total health spending
The sum of government health spending, prepaid private health spending, out-of-pocket health spending, and development assistance for health (DAH). Total health spending does not include indirect health spending, such as lost wages due to illness or transportation costs; informal care (spending on care provided by a family member or by traditional healers); or illegal transactions.
Uncertainty interval
A range of values that reflects the certainty of an estimate. Larger uncertainty intervals can result from limited data availability, small studies, and conflicting data, while smaller uncertainty intervals can result from extensive data availability, large studies, and data that are consistent across sources.
Universal health coverage (UHC)
The goal of universal health coverage is to ensure that all people have access to effective health services and may partake of these services without financial hardship.
World Bank income group
The World Bank classifies countries using gross national income (GNI) per person.
Years lived with disability (YLDs)
Years of life lived with any short-term or long-term health loss.
Years of life lost (YLLs)
Years of life lost due to premature mortality.