UMEM Educational Pearls

Title: What are the major global killers?

Keywords: Global burden of disease, international, non-communicable diseases, injuries (PubMed Search)

Posted: 7/29/2015 by Jon Mark Hirshon, PhD, MPH, MD
Click here to contact Jon Mark Hirshon, PhD, MPH, MD

Every wonder what are the major global killers? Per the World Health Organization, the following were the top 20 causes.

Not unexpected, diseases primarily of the elderly, such ischemic heart disease, stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are on the top of the list. However, there are others, such as road traffic injuries and HIV/AIDS that could impact anyone.

Top 20 Causes of Global Mortality, 2012
Rank	Cause	Deaths (000s)	% deaths	Deaths per 100,000 population
0	All Causes	55859	100.0	789.5
1	Ischaemic heart disease	7356	13.2	104.0
2	Stroke	6671	11.9	94.3
3	Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	3104	5.6	43.9
4	Lower respiratory infections	3052	5.5	43.1
5	Trachea, bronchus, lung cancers	1600	2.9	22.6
6	HIV/AIDS	1534	2.8	21.7
7	Diarrhoeal diseases	1498	2.7	21.2
8	Diabetes mellitus	1497	2.7	21.2
9	Road injury	1255	2.3	17.7
10	Hypertensive heart disease	1141	2.0	16.1
11	Preterm birth complications	1135	2.0	16.0
12	Cirrhosis of the liver	1021	1.8	14.4
13	Tuberculosis	935	1.7	13.2
14	Kidney diseases	864	1.6	12.2
15	Self-harm	804	1.4	11.4
16	Birth asphyxia and birth trauma	744	1.3	10.5
17	Liver cancer	740	1.3	10.5
18	Stomach cancer	733	1.3	10.4
19	Colon and rectum cancers	724	1.3	10.2
20	Alzheimer's disease and other dementias	701	1.3	9.9

References

http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/estimates/en/index1.html