Global burden and cross-country inequalities in six major immune-mediated inflammatory diseases from 1990 to 2021: A systemic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background

This study aims to describe the global burden trends of six immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs), including asthma, atopic dermatitis (AD), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), multiple sclerosis (MS), psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), from 1990 to 2021, and analyze patterns of cross-country inequalities.

Methods

The estimates for the number of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) and age-standardized DALYs rates (ASDR), along with the 95 % uncertainty intervals (UI) for asthma, AD, IBD, MS, psoriasis and RA, were obtained from the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2021. The estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) was used to quantify the global burden trends of these six IMIDs from 1990 to 2021. Additionally, slope index of inequality and concentration index were employed to quantify the distributional inequalities in the burden of IMIDs.

Results

From 1990 to 2021, the global ASDR of psoriasis (EAPC = 0.23 %, 95 % UI: 0.21 to 0.25) and RA (EAPC = 0.05 %, 95 % UI: 0.01to 0.10) showed an increasing trend, while the global ASDRs of asthma (EAPC = −1.91 %, 95 % UI: −1.98 to −1.84), AD (EAPC = −0.26 %, 95 % UI: −0.27 to −0.26), IBD (EAPC = −0.52 %, 95 % UI: −0.60 to −0.43) and MS (EAPC = −0.39 %, 95 % UI: −0.45 to −0.33) demonstrated declining trends. The cross-country inequality analysis reveals pronounced heterogeneity in the burden of these six IMIDs.

Conclusions

The global distribution of the DALYs burden attributable to IMIDs exhibits significant disparities across regions, underscoring an urgent need for innovative and comprehensive management strategies to address this heterogeneous landscape.