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Extended report
The global burden of other musculoskeletal disorders: estimates from the Global Burden of Disease 2010 study
  1. Emma Smith1,2,
  2. Damian G Hoy3,
  3. Marita Cross1,2,
  4. Theo Vos4,5,
  5. Mohsen Naghavi5,
  6. Rachelle Buchbinder6,7,
  7. Anthony D Woolf8,
  8. Lyn March1,2
  1. 1Northern Clinical School, Institute of Bone and Joint Research, University of Sydney, St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia
  2. 2Department of Rheumatology, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia
  3. 3School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia
  4. 4School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia
  5. 5Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
  6. 6Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Malvern, Victoria, Australia
  7. 7Monash Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Cabrini Hospital, Malvern, Victoria, Australia
  8. 8Department of Rheumatology, Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro, UK
  1. Correspondence to Lyn March, Northern Clinical School, Institute of Bone and Joint Research, University of Sydney, Department of Rheumatology, Royal North Shore Hospital, Clinical Administration Level 7C, St Leonards, NSW 2065 Australia; lyn.march{at}sydney.edu.au

Abstract

Objective To estimate disability from the remainder of musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders (categorised as other MSK) not covered by the estimates made specifically for osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), gout, low back pain and neck pain, as part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2010 study.

Methods Systematic reviews were conducted to gather the age-sex-specific epidemiological data for other MSK. The focus was on finding health surveys and published studies that measured the overall amount of MSK disorders and complaints, and classified the remainder of MSK disorders that was not RA, OA, gout, low back or neck pain. Six levels of severity were defined to derive disability weights (DWs) and severity distribution. The data, DWs and severity distribution were used to calculate years of life lived with disability (YLDs). Mortality was estimated for MSK-related deaths classified under other MSK. YLDs were added to years of life lost (YLLs) from the mortality estimates to derive overall burden in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).

Results Global prevalence of other MSK was 8.4% (95% uncertainty interval (UI) 8.1% to 8.6%). DALYs increased from 20.6 million (95% UI 17.0 to 23.3 million) in 1990 to 30.9 million (95% UI 25.8 to 34.6 million) in 2010. The burden of other MSK increased with age. Globally, other MSK disability burden (YLD) ranked sixth.

Conclusions Ageing of the global population will further increase the burden of other MSK. Specific MSK conditions within this large category should be considered separately to enable more explicit estimates of their burden in future iterations of GBD.

  • Epidemiology
  • Health Services Research
  • Outcomes Research
  • Arthritis
  • Autoimmune Diseases

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