Global disease burden attributed to unsafe sex in 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019: results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Abstract

Unsafe sex has become a public safety problem that endangers society, and research on deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) related to unsafe sex is valuable for global policy-making. We aimed to estimate the deaths and DALYs attributable to unsafe sex by country, gender, age group, and sociodemographic status from 1990 to 2019. We extracted data on disease burden from the Global Disease Burden 2019 (GBD 2019) database for unsafe sex, including deaths, DALYs and age-standardized rates (ASRs). Comparative analyses were performed on data about deaths, DALYs and the responding ASRs attributable to unsafe sex in different countries and regions using the Social Demographic Index (SDI). The global age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) and age-standardized DALY rate (ASDR) attributable to unsafe sex were 11.98 (95% uncertainty intervals (UI): 10.97–13.52) per 100,000 people and 570.78 (95% UI: 510.24–658.10) per 100,000 people, respectively. Both the ASMRs and ASDRs were the highest in southern sub-Saharan Africa and lowest in Australasia and decreased with increasing SDI levels. About unsafe-sex-related disease, HIV/AIDS has the highest ASMR [8.48 (95% UI: 7.62–9.95)/100,000 people] and ASDR [447.44 (95% UI: 394.82–533.10)/100,000 people], followed by Cervical cancer [ASMR: 3.40 (95% UI: 2.90–3.81)/100,000 people and ASDR: 107.2 (95% UI: 90.52–119.43)/100,000 people] and sexually transmitted infections excluding HIV [ASMR: 0.10 (95% UI: 0.08–0.11)/100,000 people and ASDR: 16.14 (95% UI: 10.51–25.83)/100,000 people]. The death and DALY burden caused by these three diseases were more serious in the over 75 years old age group. The 40–44 age group for men and the 35–39 age group for women had the highest population of unsafe sex-related deaths and DALYs, respectively. In addition, the burden of unsafe sex in women was more serious than those in men. Unsafe sex is an important risk factor for global disease burden and a leading cause of substantial health loss. We found that the risk of ASMRs and ASDRs attributable to unsafe sex had negative correlation with SDI levels. These results demonstrate that the need for revised policies that focus on efforts to reduce overall unsafe sex worldwide.