Major causes of disease burden: An analysis by age

The overall disease burden consists of a disability component1 expressed as years lost to disability (YLD) and a mortality component expressed as years of life lost (YLL).2 The distribution of the overall disease burden increases with age, but with minor peaks in early childhood and early adulthood. For 2000, in early adulthood when the burden was almost entirely accounted for by disability, mental disorders were the dominant disease group, particularly among females. In older age groups, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and neurological disorders contributed most to the burden among both genders and consequently the mortality burden accounted for the greatest proportion of the overall burden. The burden among males remained higher than among females across all age groups (Figure 1).