Malaria, AIDS and contagious diseases cause fewer and fewer deaths, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal The Lancet. Today it is non-communicable and heart diseases that kill the most. 7 out of 10 deaths are due to chronic diseases such as diabetesailments cardiovascular and neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of health and medical data from 195 countries. They found that life expectancy around the world increased by more than 10 years between 1980 and 2015, reaching an average of 69 years for men and 78.4 years for women.
This modification is essentially linked to “the fall in mortality rates for many communicable diseases: the AIDS thus still caused 1.2 million deaths last year, but this is 33% less than in 2005, while deaths due to malaria fell by 37% to 730,000 over the same period”, according to this 2015 report on serious illnesses, injuries and health risk factors.
Communicable diseases kill less than chronic diseases
The researchers found that of the 56 million deaths recorded in 2015, 70% were caused by non-communicable diseases, often linked to lifestyle (diet, physical activity, tobacco, alcohol, etc.). This link is even more palpable in developed countries.
Developing countries are more affected by respiratory infections, malaria and newborn encephalopathy (neurological disorders due to lack of oxygen at birth), then diarrhea.
This study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also reminds us that some rich countries are not in such good health and that there is still no link between a country’s economic situation and the good health of its inhabitants. Indeed, “for the world’s leading economic power, the number of years of life lost due to coronary heart disease is more than twice as high as what its socio-demographic development index would suggest, while France is two times better than expected for the same pathology,” explains Dr. Christopher Murray, director of IHME, a research institute at the University of Washington in Seattle (United States).
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