disease burden

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the total impact of a disease on a population measured not only in mortality but in morbidity, disability, economic costs, and quality of life reduction, most commonly quantified using disability-adjusted life years — DALYs — which combine years of life lost to premature death with years lived with disability weighted by the severity of the health condition; disease burden analysis enables comparisons across conditions of very different character — an infectious disease that kills young people and a chronic condition that disables older people — and informs the allocation of health research funding, healthcare system resources, and global health aid; the Global Burden of Disease study, coordinated by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, provides the most comprehensive annual estimates of disease burden across conditions, countries, and risk factors worldwide