{"title":"Burden of Diseases Attributable to Low Physical Activity in the Middle East and North Africa: an Analysis Based on Global Burden of Disease Study.","authors":"Mohsen Farrokhpour, Bijan Forogh, Golsa Gholampour, Seyed Aria Nejadghaderi, Amirhossein Habibzadeh, Amin Nakhostin-Ansari, Homa Seyedmirzaei","doi":"10.4274/balkanmedj.galenos.2025.2025-1-20","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Research on low physical activity (LPA) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains limited.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>To assess the disease burden associated with LPA using data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>Longitudinal epidemiological study.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>GBD 2021 data were used to extract information on the burden of eight LPA-related conditions-breast cancer, chronic kidney disease, colorectal cancer, diabetes mellitus (DM), ischemic heart disease, lower extremity peripheral arterial disease, stroke, and tuberculosis-analyzed by age group, sex, country within MENA, and year (1990-2021).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The age-standardized disability-adjusted life year (DALY) rate for LPA-related diseases in MENA declined by 8.62%, from 431.84 per 100,000 people in 1990 to 394.64 per 100,000 in 2021. In 2021, Sudan (846.47 per 100,000), Iraq (630.29 per 100,000), and Afghanistan (626.88 per 100,000) recorded the highest age-standardized DALY rates. Across all age groups, females had higher DALY rates than males in both 1990 and 2021.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Despite a recent decline, the MENA region continues to experience a greater LPA-attributable disease burden than the global average. The increasing contribution of DM and breast cancer highlights evolving trends, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions such as lifestyle promotion and improved access to health facilities.</p>","PeriodicalId":8690,"journal":{"name":"Balkan Medical Journal","volume":"42 2","pages":"121-129"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11881527/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Balkan Medical Journal","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4274/balkanmedj.galenos.2025.2025-1-20","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Research on low physical activity (LPA) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains limited.
Aims: To assess the disease burden associated with LPA using data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study.
Study design: Longitudinal epidemiological study.
Methods: GBD 2021 data were used to extract information on the burden of eight LPA-related conditions-breast cancer, chronic kidney disease, colorectal cancer, diabetes mellitus (DM), ischemic heart disease, lower extremity peripheral arterial disease, stroke, and tuberculosis-analyzed by age group, sex, country within MENA, and year (1990-2021).
Results: The age-standardized disability-adjusted life year (DALY) rate for LPA-related diseases in MENA declined by 8.62%, from 431.84 per 100,000 people in 1990 to 394.64 per 100,000 in 2021. In 2021, Sudan (846.47 per 100,000), Iraq (630.29 per 100,000), and Afghanistan (626.88 per 100,000) recorded the highest age-standardized DALY rates. Across all age groups, females had higher DALY rates than males in both 1990 and 2021.
Conclusion: Despite a recent decline, the MENA region continues to experience a greater LPA-attributable disease burden than the global average. The increasing contribution of DM and breast cancer highlights evolving trends, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions such as lifestyle promotion and improved access to health facilities.
期刊介绍:
The Balkan Medical Journal (Balkan Med J) is a peer-reviewed open-access international journal that publishes interesting clinical and experimental research conducted in all fields of medicine, interesting case reports and clinical images, invited reviews, editorials, letters, comments and letters to the Editor including reports on publication and research ethics. The journal is the official scientific publication of the Trakya University Faculty of Medicine, Edirne, Turkey and is printed six times a year, in January, March, May, July, September and November. The language of the journal is English.
The journal is based on independent and unbiased double-blinded peer-reviewed principles. Only unpublished papers that are not under review for publication elsewhere can be submitted. Balkan Medical Journal does not accept multiple submission and duplicate submission even though the previous one was published in a different language. The authors are responsible for the scientific content of the material to be published. The Balkan Medical Journal reserves the right to request any research materials on which the paper is based.
The Balkan Medical Journal encourages and enables academicians, researchers, specialists and primary care physicians of Balkan countries to publish their valuable research in all branches of medicine. The primary aim of the journal is to publish original articles with high scientific and ethical quality and serve as a good example of medical publications in the Balkans as well as in the World.