An Overview of the Burden of Disease in the UAE

Understanding the burden of diseases from diverse perspectives of their etiologies, epidemiological data, and societal, humanistic, clinical, and economic consequences enables the provision of optimal, sustainable, and excellent patient care. The abovementioned goal could be achieved by understanding the interplay between human health, health policy, and economic development. The UAE results in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) report have provided data on the burden of disease, injuries, and risk factors from 1990 to 2019. However, the report deserves further analysis of sequential trends in mortality, health loss, risk factors, and healthcare services in the UAE over the period from 1990 to 2019. The top 10 individual causes of death in the UAE reported in 2009 were non-communicable diseases (chronic kidney disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischemic heart disease, stroke, and injuries). The UAE healthcare system has undergone significant transformations over the past 30 years, as measured by age-standardized death rates and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) rates. The analysis of disease burden in the UAE provided four risk attributes for more than 50% of deaths and DALYs. This chapter points out some of the most essential, important, and critical estimates related to the burden of disease and attributed risk factors.