Compared to other major nations, the overall health outcomes of the United States have been found to be significantly lacking.
Researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) found that every major cause of premature death – from heart disease to interpersonal violence, U.S. fares worse than its economic peers.
Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the report analyzed both in the United States and 34 countries– available for 291 diseases, and injuries that cause death and disability.
A team of global researchers highlighted the impact of premature deaths in children and young adults on each nation, as well as the overall effects of disabling conditions such as lower back pain and major depression. The researchers also examined 67 known health risk factors associated with both fatal and non-fatal health disorders.
The study’s results were presented to government officials at a White House.” Dr. Christopher Murray, the IHME director and one of the lead authors on the study, told FoxNews.com. “(It’s also hard) understanding what the leading causes of ill health are and how do we stack up and who in the US is doing a good job. Our goal is to provide that big picture view.”
While the United States has made many steps in major areas – such as preventing premature deaths from stroke and breast cancer – the country has fallen behind in health. Ischemic heart disease still remains the leading cause of premature death. It accounted for 15.9 percent of premature deaths in the U.S. in 2010, followed by lung cancer, which accounted for 6.6 percent of deaths.
Moreover, Alzheimer’s disease, liver cancer, Parkinson’s and kidney cancer were all found to be on the upswing, accounting for increase in premature deaths in the U.S. Murray and his team were also surprised to find that deaths attributed to road traffic injuries, drug abuse and self-harm were more prevalent than previously thought. Drug use disorders accounted for more years of life lost than both prostate cancer and brain cancer combined – up 448 percent since 1990.
Low back pain was found to be the leading cause of years lived with disability in the United States, followed by major depressive disorder and other musculoskeletal disorders. Murray noted that while the United States has spent a great amount of money and effort to find cures for fatal conditions like cardiovascular disease and cancer, the same kind of attention hasn’t been given to the leading causes of disability.
“The number one risk factor is diet and that’s followed by tobacco and then obesity and then high blood pressure and physical inactivity,” Murray said. Out of its 34 economic peer countries in Europe, Asia and North America, the U.S. ranked 27th in disease burden brought on by dietary factors, 27th on high body mass index (BMI) and 29th in blood sugar levels.
Murray hopes that future researchers will study these regions to determine what government officials and the Americans can do to make improvements to the country’s overall health outcomes.