Sex disparity in the burden of NCDs and its four main subgroups in Iran 1990-2019: a systematic analysis from the global burden of disease study 2019.

Objectives: The significant health differences between sexes in Iran in terms of burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) point to the urgency of developing policies. We aim to explore sex disparities in NCDs.

Methods: We used Global Burden of Disease 2019 study to compare estimates of incidence, prevalence, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years lived with disabilities (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and deaths among sexes for NCDs, and their main subgroups; neoplasms, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs), diabetes mellitus (DM) during 1990-2019.

Results: In 2019, there were 62,476,274 (59517167.5, 65759931) incident NCDs in men and 78758640.6 (75222093.7, 82272935.8) in women. There were 7734064.3 (6744951.2, 8846192) DALYs in men and 7760484.2 (6496609, 9218299.9) in women. Fatal estimates (deaths and YLLs) of NCDs were higher for men, while non-fatal estimates (prevalence, YLDs) were higher for women. Men were superior in all burden indices of NCDs subgroups, except for all indices of DM and YLDs in CVDs. Compared to 1990-2010, the period 2010-2019 confirmed a marked stagnation in decline rates of burden indices, as well as an increase in incidence and prevalence which was more pronounced among men. Despite shrinking sex gaps in NCDs subgroups since 1990, sex gap in DM is widening in 2019.

Conclusions: There is a notable sex disparity in NCDs prevalence in Iran, which has become increasingly evident in DM burden. It will be imperative to continue monitoring sexual differences in NCDs burden to determine if disease rates between sexes continue to diverge in the future.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40200-024-01489-1.