Background While there is a long history of measuring death and disability from injuries, modern research methods must account for the wide spectrum of disability that can occur in an injury, and must provide estimates with sufficient demographic, geographical and temporal detail to be useful for policy makers. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 study used methods to provide highly detailed estimates of global injury burden that meet these criteria. Methods In this study, we report and discuss the methods used in GBD 2017 for injury morbidity and mortality burden estimation. In summary, these methods included estimating cause-specific mortality for every cause of injury, and then estimating incidence for every cause of injury. Non-fatal disability for each cause is then calculated based on the probabilities of suffering from different types of bodily injury experienced. Results GBD 2017 produced morbidity and mortality estimates for 38 causes of injury. Estimates were produced in terms of incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, cause-specific mortality, years of life lost and disability-adjusted life-years for a 28-year period for 22 age groups, 195 countries and both sexes. Conclusions GBD 2017 demonstrated a complex and sophisticated series of analytical steps using the largest known database of morbidity and mortality data on injuries. GBD 2017 results should be used to help inform injury prevention policy making and resource allocation. We also identify important avenues for improving injury burden estimation in the future.
Tobacco dependence treatment for special populations: challenges and opportunities
Background Past research in population health trends has shown that injuries form a substantial burden of population health loss. Regular updates to injury burden assessments are critical. We report Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 Study estimates on morbidity and mortality for all injuries. Methods We reviewed results for injuries from the GBD 2017 study. GBD 2017 measured injury-specific mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) using the Cause of Death Ensemble model. To measure non-fatal injuries, GBD 2017 modelled injury-specific incidence and converted this to prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs). YLLs and YLDs were summed to calculate disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Findings In 1990, there were 4 260 493 (4 085 700 to 4 396 138) injury deaths, which increased to 4 484 722 (4 332 010 to 4 585 554) deaths in 2017, while age-standardised mortality decreased from 1079 (1073 to 1086) to 738 (730 to 745) per 100 000. In 1990, there were 354 064 302 (95% uncertainty interval: 338 174 876 to 371 610 802) new cases of injury globally, which increased to 520 710 288 (493 430 247 to 547 988 635) new cases in 2017. During this time, age-standardised incidence decreased non-significantly from 6824 (6534 to 7147) to 6763 (6412 to 7118) per 100 000. Between 1990 and 2017, age-standardised DALYs decreased from 4947 (4655 to 5233) per 100 000 to 3267 (3058 to 3505). Interpretation Injuries are an important cause of health loss globally, though mortality has declined between 1990 and 2017. Future research in injury burden should focus on prevention in high-burden populations, improving data collection and ensuring access to medical care.
Implementing evidence-based smoking cessation treatment in psychosocial care units (CAPS) in Brazil
Background: The prevalence of smoking among mental health and addiction (MHA) patients is 3 times higher than it is in the general population, yet this patient population has received little help to combat smoking. Considering this, psychosocial care centers (CAPS – Centros de Atenção Psicossocial) are strategic locations for integrating tobacco dependence treatment (TDT) into existing treatment activities. Methods: Our team provided an 8-hour training package to the staff of CAPS that have not been providing specialized TDT for smokers. Our curriculum included the following topics focused on the implementation of treatment for MHA smokers: management, epidemiology, medications, psychotherapy, and smoking/mental health assessment instruments. Results: Our team trained the staff of 17 CAPS units within 10 cities – which included more than 186 health professionals. There were many barriers encountered as we provided this training. A summary of problems we faced were as follows: resistance to incorporating TDT in addiction/mental health-care units, resistance to the implementation of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) (psychodynamic therapy and harm reduction were preferred) and treatment for smoking is already implemented in primary care network; resistance to the use of medication in addiction treatment (a preference for psychotherapy and psychosocial approach). Conclusion: We learned a number of important lessons as we worked to improve the delivery of TDT to MHA patients in Brazil: provide clinicians an opportunity to explore how they feel/think about providing TDT to their clients at the very outset of the training, rather than focusing on a specific type of behavioral therapy for TDT (such as CBT), which some may find objectionable; use more generic descriptions of behavioral therapy such as ‘supportive counseling’; include training professionals who are open to other forms of behavioral therapy in addition to psychoanalysis and discuss the important impact that MHA units can have in improving the quality of life for their patients who smoke.