Which chronic diseases contribute the most to healthy life years lost in Algeria?

OBJECTIVES

Chronic diseases contribute significantly to healthy years lost (HYLs). It is critical to investigate which are the most contributing diseases to enable enhancing health programs' effectiveness in improving health expectancy. This paper investigates disease-specific contributions to years lived with chronic diseases in Algeria and examines their recent evolution.

METHODS

We used morbidity data from the last three waves of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys of 2006, 2012-13, and 2018-19. The studied chronic diseases included hypertension, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), joint diseases, respiratory diseases, and diabetes. We calculated disease-specific contributions using the cause-deleted health expectancy approach. Then, we analyzed time changes and gender-based differences in contributions.

RESULTS

The leading cause of HYLs in women is hypertension, followed by diabetes, joint diseases, CVDs, and respiratory diseases. The same ranking applies to men, with joint diseases coming last. The time evolution of relative disease-specific contributions shows an increase in CVDs for women and diabetes for both genders, against a decrease for the other diseases.

DISCUSSION: To improve chronic disease-free life expectancy in Algeria, effective prevention programs must be implemented, with an emphasis on hypertension and diabetes. Further investigation into the risk factors affecting the prevalence and incidence of these diseases is also required.