Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Jan 26:11:53.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-53.

Burden of disease in Thailand: changes in health gap between 1999 and 2004

Kanitta Bundhamcharoen  1 , Patarapan Odton, Sirinya Phulkerd, Viroj Tangcharoensathien
Affiliations

Burden of disease in Thailand: changes in health gap between 1999 and 2004

Kanitta Bundhamcharoen et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Continuing comprehensive assessment of population health gap is essential for effective health planning. This paper assessed changes in the magnitude and pattern of disease burden in Thailand between 1999 and 2004. It further drew lessons learned from applying the global burden of disease (GBD) methods to the Thai context for other developing country settings.

Methods: Multiple sources of mortality and morbidity data for both years were assessed and used to estimate Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) loss for 110 specific diseases and conditions relevant to the country's health problems. Causes of death from national vital registration were adjusted for misclassification from a verbal autopsy study.

Results: Between 1999 and 2004, DALYs loss per 1,000 population in 2004 slightly decreased in men but a minor increase in women was observed. HIV/AIDS maintained the highest burden for men in both 1999 and 2004 while in 2004, stroke took over the 1999 first rank of HIV/AIDS in women. Among the top twenty diseases, there was a slight increase of the proportion of non-communicable diseases and two out of three infectious diseases revealed a decrease burden except for lower respiratory tract infections.

Conclusion: The study highlights unique pattern of disease burden in Thailand whereby epidemiological transition have occurred as non-communicable diseases were on the rise but burden from HIV/AIDS resulting from the epidemic in the 1990s remains high and injuries show negligent change. Lessons point that assessing DALY over time critically requires continuing improvement in data sources particularly on cause of death statistics, institutional capacity and long term commitments.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Methodological framework
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Musgrove P. Investing in health: the 1993 World Development Report of the World Bank. Bull Pan Am Health Organ. 1993;27(3):284–286. - PubMed
    1. Murray CJ, Acharya AK. Understanding DALYs (disability-adjusted life years) J Health Econ. 1997;16(6):703–730. doi: 10.1016/S0167-6296(97)00004-0. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Murray CJ. Quantifying the burden of disease: the technical basis for disability-adjusted life years. Bull World Health Organ. 1994;72(3):429–445. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Murray CJ, Lopez AD. Quantifying disability: data, methods and results. Bull World Health Organ. 1994;72(3):481–494. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Murray C, Salomon JA, Mathers C. A critical examination of summary measures of population health. Bull World Health Organ. 2000;78(8):981–994. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

  NODES
Association 1
INTERN 3
twitter 2