In 2020, Archives of Public Health launched a new article collection focusing on the burden of disease. This collection aimed to provide a platform for discussing methodological challenges and advances in the burden of disease approach. Specifically, the aim of the collection was to receive manuscripts on the the following:
- Methodological challenges related to the burden of disease approach.
- Presentations of methodological advances in the burden of disease approach.
- Dealing with knowledge translation of burden of disease estimates.
- Novel burden of disease studies using the DALY metric.
In addition to the open call for manuscripts, we present two invited manuscripts that will take the reader from policy makers' views on knowledge translation practices, to reflections on the key methodological choices, in burden of disease assessments. The first paper sets out to undersand how relevant users interact with data visualuzation tools, and examines knowledge translation processes related to these tools. This was achieved through a qualitative case-study consisting of semi-structured interviews with eight policy officers, selected by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). The second paper comes from researchers from the network, focusing on eleven key methodological decisions and challenges in burden of disease assessment. This paper draws on the experiences of countries working with burden of disease methodology in their own national studies.
In addition to the invited manuscripts, several other burden of disease manuscripts have been published:
Wengler A, Gruhl H, Plaß D et al. Redistributing ill-defined causes of death – a case study from the BURDEN 2020-project in Germany. Arch Public Health. 2021;79:33. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00535-1
Fastl C, Devleesschauwer B, van Cauteren D et al. The burden of legionnaires’ disease in Belgium, 2013 to 2017. Arch Public Health. 2021;79:92. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-020-00470-7
Saxena N, Sethia D. Decomposition of years of life lost due to premature death (YLL): a method for spatial and temporal comparative assessment. Arch Public Health. 2020;78:91. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-020-00472-5
Moon L, Gourley M, Goss J et al. History and development of national burden of disease assessment in Australia. Arch Public Health. 2020;78:88. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-020-00467-2
Hilderink H, Plasmans MHD, Poos MJJC et al. Dutch DALYs, current and future burden of disease in the Netherlands. Arch Public Health. 2020;78:85. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-020-00461-8
Mathers C. History of global burden of disease assessment at the World Health Organization. Arch Public Health. 2020;78:77. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-020-00458-3
Cuschieri S, Wyper GMA, Calleja N et al. Measuring disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to low back pain in Malta. Arch Public Health. 2020;78:68. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-020-00451-w
Paalanen L, Reinikainen J, Härkänen T et al. Comparing data sources in estimating disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for ischemic heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a cross-sectional setting in Finland. Arch Public Health. 2020;78:58. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-020-00439-6
Wyper GMA, Assunção R, Cuschieri S et al. Population vulnerability to COVID-19 in Europe: a burden of disease analysis. Arch Public Health. 2020;78:47. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-020-00433-y
Wyper GMA, Grant I, Fletcher E et al. Prioritising the development of severity distributions in burden of disease studies for countries in the European region. Arch Public Health. 2020;78:3. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-019-0385-6
Wyper GMA, Grant I, Fletcher E et al. How do world and European standard populations impact burden of disease studies? A case study of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in Scotland. Arch Public Health. 2020;78:1. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-019-0383-8
