Effect of Physical Inactivity on Major Non-Communicable Diseases Worldwide, 2012

Data is derived from the article "Effect of physical inactivity on major non-communicable diseases worldwide: an analysis of burden of disease and life expectancy" (Lee et al., Lancet 2012). The study is aimed to quantify the effect of physical inactivity on these major non-communicable diseases by estimating how much disease could be averted if inactive people were to become active and to estimate gain in life expectancy at the population level. The focus is made on the major non-communicable diseases emphasised by the UN as threats to global health: coronary heart disease; cancer, specifically breast and colon cancers, which are convincingly related to physical inactivity; and type 2 diabetes. For the analysis of burden of disease, population attributable fractions (PAFs) associated with physical inactivity were calculated using conservative assumptions for each of the major non-communicable diseases, by country, to estimate how much disease could be averted if physical inactivity were eliminated. Life-table analysis was used to estimate gains in life expectancy of the population. The population attributable fraction (PAF) is a measure used by epidemiologists to estimate the effect of a risk factor on disease incidence in a population. It estimates the proportion of new cases that would not occur, absent a particular risk factor. Thus, it provides policy makers with useful quantitative estimates of the potential effect of interventions to reduce or eradicate the risk factor. Data are 95% CI. Gain in life expectancy is estimated gains in life expectancy if physical inactivity were eliminated. Note: Uncertainty interval calculated on the basis of the lower and upper bounds of the 95% CI.