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The global birth prevalence of clubfoot: a systematic review and meta-analysis

SMYTHE, Tracey
ROTENBURG, Sarah
LAVY, Chris
August 2023

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Estimates of the birth prevalence of clubfoot in low and middle income settings range from 0.5 to 2 per 1000 births. However, there is currently no estimate of global birth prevalence of clubfoot.

A systematic review of studies was carried out reporting the birth prevalence of clubfoot across all countries and regions worldwide in the last 10 years. Africa Wide Information, EMBASE, CINAHL, Global Health, LILACS and Medline databases were searched for relevant studies from January 1st 2012 to February 9th 2023. Pooled prevalence estimates were calculated using the inverse variance method, and a random effects model was applied to account for heterogeneity between studies.

 

eClinicalMedicine,  Vol 63 September, 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102178

Global estimates of the need for rehabilitation based on the Global Burden of Disease study 2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

CIEZA, Alarcos
CAUSEY, Kate
KAMENOV, Kaloyan
HANSON, Sarah Wulf
CHATTERJI, Somnath
VOS, Theo
December 2020

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Background: Rehabilitation has often been seen as a disability-specific service needed by only few of the population. Despite its individual and societal benefits, rehabilitation has not been prioritised in countries and is under-resourced. We present global, regional, and country data for the number of people who would benefit from rehabilitation at least once during the course of their disabling illness or injury.

 

Methods: To estimate the need for rehabilitation, data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019 were used to calculate the prevalence and years of life lived with disability (YLDs) of 25 diseases, impairments, or bespoke aggregations of sequelae that were selected as amenable to rehabilitation. All analyses were done at the country level and then aggregated to seven regions: World Bank high-income countries and the six WHO regions (ie, Africa, the Americas, Southeast Asia, Europe, Eastern Mediterranean, and Western Pacific).

 

Findings: Globally, in 2019, 2·41 billion (95% uncertainty interval 2·34–2·50) individuals had conditions that would benefit from rehabilitation, contributing to 310 million [235–392] YLDs. This number had increased by 63% from 1990 to 2019. Regionally, the Western Pacific had the highest need of rehabilitation services (610 million people [588–636] and 83 million YLDs [62–106]). The disease area that contributed most to prevalence was musculoskeletal disorders (1·71 billion people [1·68–1·80]), with low back pain being the most prevalent condition in 134 of the 204 countries analysed.

 

Interpretation: To our knowledge, this is the first study to produce a global estimate of the need for rehabilitation services and to show that at least one in every three people in the world needs rehabilitation at some point in the course of their illness or injury. This number counters the common view of rehabilitation as a service required by only few people. We argue that rehabilitation needs to be brought close to communities as an integral part of primary health care to reach more people in need.

 

VOLUME 396, ISSUE 10267, P2006-2017, DECEMBER 19, 2020
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32340-0

Trends in prevalence of blindness and distance and near vision impairment over 30 years: an analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study

GBD 2019 Blindness and Vision Impairment Collaborators
December 2020

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To contribute to the WHO initiative, VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, an assessment of global vision impairment in 2020 and temporal change is needed. This paper aims to extensively update estimates of global vision loss burden, presenting estimates for 2020, temporal change over three decades between 1990–2020, and forecasts for 2050.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based surveys of eye disease from January, 1980, to October, 2018 was carried out. Only studies with samples representative of the population and with clearly defined visual acuity testing protocols were included. Hierarchical models were fitted to estimate 2020 prevalence (with 95% uncertainty intervals [UIs]) of mild vision impairment (presenting visual acuity ≥6/18 and <6/12), moderate and severe vision impairment (<6/18 to 3/60), and blindness (<3/60 or less than 10° visual field around central fixation); and vision impairment from uncorrected presbyopia (presenting near vision <N6 or <N8 at 40 cm where best-corrected distance visual acuity is ≥6/12). We forecast estimates of vision loss up to 2050.

 

https://doi.org/10.1016/ S2214-109X(20)30425-3

Better understanding of youth mental health

The Lancet
April 2017

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Mental health issues are the leading cause of disability in adolescents aged 15–19 years in all the world's regions, contributing 45% of their overall burden of disease. Early intervention to prevent mental health disorders is crucial to suicide prevention and to improve lifelong wellbeing. In April 2017, Mission Australia, in association with the Black Dog Institute (a research institute based in New South Wales) published the 5th Youth Mental Health Report. A survey of 21 000 Australian adolescents recorded 22·8% of young Australians meeting the criteria for probable serious mental illness (PSMI), as assessed by the Kessler 6 measure of non-specific psychological distress. Adolescent girls were almost twice as likely than boys to meet the criteria for PSMI. A significantly higher proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander responders met the criteria for PSMI (31·6%)  than non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.


DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31140-6

Vol. 389, No. 10080, p1670, 29 April 2017

 

Counting disability: emerging consensus on the Washington Group questionnaire

GROCE, Nora
MONT, Daniel
2017

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The issuing of a statement by the Interagency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicators in Geneva, a group of leading UN agencies, civil society actors, and independent experts strongly supporting the Washington Group on Disability Statistics’ Short Set of Questions (WGSS) is noted and a short explanation of the questions is provided.

 

The Lancet Global Health VOLUME 5, ISSUE 7, PE649-E650, JULY 01, 2017

https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(17)30207-3

Measuring health and disability

MONT, Daniel
May 2007

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This article examines the use of Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), an indicator for assessing the relative effects of public health interventions, by comparing the underlying concepts to WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF). It concludes by stating "the main difficulty with DALYs is that they do not value interventions that enhance the lives of people with disabilities. To do so, they must draw on the social model of disability to look at how the environment interacts with functional status"
The Lancet, Vol 369

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