Economic Burden of Disease-Associated Malnutrition in China

This article reports the results of a burden-of-illness study on DAM in 15 diseases in China. Using data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the China Health and Nutrition Survey, and the published literature, mortality and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost because of DAM were calculated; a financial value of this burden was calculated following WHO guidelines. DALYs lost annually to DAM in China varied across diseases, from a low of 2248 in malaria to a high of 1 315 276 in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The total burden was 6.1 million DALYs, for an economic burden of US$66 billion (Chinese ¥ 447 billion) annually. This burden is sufficiently large to warrant immediate attention from public health officials and medical providers, especially given that low-cost and effective interventions are available.

Source: Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health - May 12, 2015 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Linthicum, M. T., Thornton Snider, J., Vaithianathan, R., Wu, Y., LaVallee, C., Lakdawalla, D. N., Benner, J. E., Philipson, T. J. Tags: Articles Source Type: research