Burden of chronic diseases in the Palestinian health-care sector using disability-adjusted life-years

Background Chronic diseases are the greatest public health concern worldwide, contribute to a large burden of disease in the developed world, and are increasing rapidly in prevalence in developing countries. The aim of this study was to quantify the burden of reported chronic diseases in the occupied Palestinian territory. Methods We used the global burden of disease (GBD) approach and its templates to quantify disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). To estimate years of life lost, we used mortality data from Ministry of Health materials, and we used local morbidity data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (heath survey 2010) to estimate years lived with disability. The study was approved by the Palestinian Health Research Council