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Alcohol Use and Mental Disorders are Main Causes of Disability among Young People

A new study by researchers at the World Health Organization (WHO) has found that major depression, alcohol use, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder are the main causes of disability among young people worldwide. These disorders account for nearly half (45 percent) of the disease burden among people aged 10 to 24 years.

According to the WHO, people between the ages of 10 to 24 years make up 27 percent of the world’s population. This is also the age during which health problems and risk factors for disease emerge.

The authors, led by Fiona M. Gore, MSc, state that this study is the first systematic description of global disease burden appearing during adolescence and young adulthood, and that it provides a comprehensive overview of disease burden for this age group. They add that the study is viewed as complementary to Patton and colleagues’ 2009 paper, which demonstrated an overview of global mortality patterns.

The researchers used data from the Global Burden of Disease report to estimate the cause-specific disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for people between the ages of 10 and 24, and to describe the contribution of the important global and regional risk factors for the burden of disease.

DALYs measure years of life lost due to premature deaths and years lost to disability. One DALY represents the loss of one year of full health.

The study found that total DALYs for people between the ages of 10 to 24 were about 236 million, or 15 percent of total DALYs for all age groups. Regionally, Africa had the highest rate of DALYs, which was 2.5 times higher than that of high-income countries.

The disease burden was 12 percent higher in girls ages 15 to 19 than in boys in the same age group, regardless of region.
The main causes for disability worldwide for both sexes were major depression, alcohol use, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Unintentional injuries (at 12 percent) and parasitic diseases (at 10 percent) followed.

The study also found that the main global risk factors for disability in all age groups (newborn to 80) are unsafe sex, alcohol use, unclean water, poor sanitation and hygiene, and being underweight.

The main risk factors in adolescence were alcohol use, unsafe sex, and iron deficiency.

The authors noted that the rates of disease burden rise sharply in late adolescence and early adulthood for both alcohol use and unsafe sex, and that other risk factors that usually start in adolescence (such as smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, and low physical activity) start contributing to disease in mid- to late-adulthood.

The researchers suggest creating preventative strategies that take on a life-course approach, focusing on the adolescent and young-adult years.

Source: Medscape News, Caroline Cassels, Mental Disorders Leading Cause of Disability in World's Youth, June 7, 2011

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