To Örebro University

Background: Chronic diseases are the greatest public health concern worldwide, contribute to a large burden of disease in the developed world, and are increasing rapidly in prevalence in developing countries. The aim of this study was to quantify the burden of reported chronic diseases in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Methods: We used the global burden of disease (GBD) approach and its templates to quantify disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). To estimate years of life lost, we used mortality data from Ministry of Health materials, and we used local morbidity data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (heath survey 2010) to estimate years lived with disability. The study was approved by the Palestinian Health Research Council.

Findings: In 2010, DALYS lost due to selected chronic diseases were estimated as 60 per 1000 DALYs in the West Bank and 57 per 1000 DALYs in Gaza Strip, with each DALY defined as 1 year of optimum healthy life lost. Ischaemic heart disease and hypertension contributed the highest proportion of DALYs in men and women in 2010, followed by lung cancer in men and breast cancer in women. Respiratory disease also contributed a high proportion of DALYs, with a small difference in rank between the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Cancer was ranked the third largest contributor and respiratory disease the fourth largest contributor to DALYs in the Gaza Strip, whereas respiratory disease was the third and cancer the fourth largest contributors to DALYs in the West Bank. We also found differences by sex and region. Heart disease and cancer continued to rank highly as causes of years of life lost in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for both sexes in 2010, indicating the major causes of chronic disease burden in the occupied Palestinian territory in 2010.

Interpretation: The burden of chronic disease is increasing substantially in the occupied Palestinian territory, and interventions are needed to tackle these burdens. Further studies using recent data and increasing attention to chronic non-communicable diseases are needed in the occupied Palestinian territories.