Burden of non-communicable diseases in Iran: past, present, and future

Abstract

Iran, as an in-transition country, tackled communicable diseases and now is confronting emerging challenges of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the path to reach health for everyone at all ages by 2030. Across Iran, death-averting treatments of NCDs have been expanded recently which might cause a shift toward a greater share of years lived with disability (YLDs) compared to years of life lost (YLLs) in the disability-adjusted life years of NCDs. Since the management of disability differs from the reduction of mortality in terms of public health policies, depicting the current picture of the burden of NCDs is principal for policymakers in achieving health for all. In this communication, we briefly reviewed our current knowledge about the burden of NCDs in Iran and found that burdens of cardiovascular diseases and asthma are shifting toward greater YLDs than YLLs. In addition to expanding preventive measures and maintenance of the current system, this profile calls policymakers for the development of more rehabilitation centers for patients with ischemic heart disease, stroke, and respiratory diseases to mitigate their disabilities. The consistent increase in the age-standardized YLD rate of neoplasms necessitates providing rehabilitation centers as well. Morbidity and mortality of diabetes have increased robustly which warrant extensive preventive and control measures. It should be noted that the estimates of the Global Burden of Disease study offer us invaluable insights on the burden of diseases in Iran; nonetheless, efforts for gathering nationally-representative data, e.g., National and Subnational Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors study, are strongly encouraged in the future.