A new study says people are living longer, but many are living longer in poor health. Researchers found that life expectancy has increased by about five years since 1990. On average, men worldwide can expect to live 67 and a half years. Women can expect to live to age 73. Almost 500 researchers in 50 countries took part in the study of global disease and disability. The findings appear in a series of articles in the Lancet. Richard Horton is the medical journal's editor-in-chief. "All of us in the world of health focus on diseases and often bad news. Actually, the Global Burden of Disease 2010 Study broadly presents very good news." The research found that far fewer people died of measles, tetanus, respiratory problems, and diarrheal diseases in 2010 than in 1990. Deaths from infections, childbirth-related problems, and malnutrition fell about 17 percent to 13.2 million. Global efforts have focused on reducing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. HIV/AIDS deaths have dropped since 2006, and TB deaths fell almost 20 percent since 1990. But each of these diseases still kills more than a million people every year. The number of malaria deaths increased by an estimated 20 percent, to almost 1.2 million in 2010. "Those three big, big diseases are not just going to go away." Mike Cohen is the head of global health research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was not involved in the research, but says it shows a change taking place worldwide. "So if infectious diseases have been better controlled and people live longer, and as their diets change and lifestyles change, the inevitable consequence in health is you have to deal much more broadly with hypertension, heart disease, diabetes." The study found that these kinds of non-communicable diseases caused more than half of the global burden of disease in 2010. The two biggest killers—heart disease and stroke—caused one-fourth of all deaths in 2010. That was up from one-fifth in 1990. There was a 48 percent increase in the number of deaths from lung cancer, which is commonly caused by smoking tobacco. The top causes of disability in 2010 were physical conditions like arthritis and back problems and mental and behavioral problems like depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Harvard University professor Joshua Salomon was a coauthor of the disability research. "I think in general we've been more successful at reducing mortality and less successful at actually addressing chronic disability."
一項新的研究指出，人類壽命逐漸延長，不過很多人雖然長壽，但健康情況卻很差。研究人員發現：自1990 年以來，人類平均壽命增加了約五歲。全球男性預期可活到67.5 歲，女性則為73 歲。 約有500 位來自50 多個國家的研究人員，參與這項全球疾病和殘疾的研究。調查結果以系列文章的形式，刊登在Lancet 醫學期刊上。李查．荷頓（Richard Horton）是該期刊的總編輯。
「關於全球健康議題，我們全都聚焦在疾病和壞消息上。但其實『2010 年全球疾病負擔』研究，帶來的大多都是好消息。」 該研究發現，和1990 年相比，2010 年死於麻疹、破傷風、呼吸道和腹瀉疾病的人數大幅降低。而因感染、生育問題，和營養不良而死亡的人數，降至1320 萬，足足下降了17%。 全球致力於減少愛滋病、結核病，和瘧疾等相關死亡人數。2006 年開始， 愛滋病死亡人數逐漸下降，而結核病死亡人數自1990 年以來，更下降了近20%，但這兩項疾病每年仍各奪去超過百萬人的生命。而
瘧疾死亡人數估計攀升約20%，在2010 年奪去了近120 萬條人命。 「這三大疾病目前還沒辦法徹底根除。」 麥可．柯恩（Mike Cohen）是位於北卡羅來納大學教堂山校區全球衛生研究的負責人。雖沒有直接參與這項研究，但他說該研究顯示影響人類壽命長短的改變，正在世界各地發生。 「隨著傳染性疾病獲得有效控制，人們活得更久了。但因為民眾飲食和生活方式的改變，未來無可避免的要更常面對高血壓、心臟病與糖尿病等疾病。」 研究發現， 2010 年全球因疾病衍生的醫藥負擔，半數以上導因於慢性疾病。 兩種人民健康頭號殺手，心臟病和中風，佔總體疾病死亡人數的比率，從1990年的五分之一，攀升到2010 年的四分之一。而因肺癌死亡的人數增加了48%，通常是由抽菸引起。 而2010 年導致殘疾的主因，多半是生理狀況，例如關節炎和背部問題，以及心理和行為問題，如憂鬱、焦慮和濫用藥物所引起。哈佛大學教授喬許．所羅門（Joshua Salomon）是該項殘疾研究的合著者。 「我認為整體而言，目前醫學在降低死亡率上極有成效，但在處理慢性殘疾問題上，則尚待加強。」 | 
沒有留言:
張貼留言