Trends of the Global, Regional and National Incidence, Mortality, and Disability-Adjusted Life Years of Malaria, 1990–2019: An Analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Donglei Shi,* Li Wei,* Hongsen Liang, Dongqing Yan, Junhang Zhang, Zhaojun Wang Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, 518107, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Zhaojun Wang, Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, 518107, People’s Republic of China, Email wangzhj55@mail.sysu.edu.cnBackground: Malaria remains a substantial concern in the realm of public health on a worldwide level. Using information from the global burden of disease (GBD) 2019 for 204 countries and territories between 1990 and 2019, we assessed the burden of malaria.Methods: Data on malaria were derived from the GBD 2019 study between 1990 and 2019. We evaluated the number of incidence, deaths, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), age-standardized incidence rates (ASIR), age-standardized mortality rates (ASMR), and age-standardized DALY rates (ASDR), examining them across variables such as age, year, gender, country, region, and socio-demographic index (SDI).Results: The burden of malaria decreased globally between 1990 and 2019. There were 2313.57× 105 incident cases and 6.43× 105 deaths in 2019, contributing to 464.38× 105 DALYs. Largest incident cases were observed in Western Sub-Saharan Africa [1151.72 (95% UI: 890.01– 1527.17)] × 105 in 2019. The only region where deaths increased between 1990 and 2019 was Western Sub-Saharan Africa. ASRs of malaria are distributed heterogeneously in different regions. The highest ASIR was observed in Central Sub-Saharan Africa [21,557.65 (95% UI: 16,639.4– 27,491.48)] in 2019. From 1990 to 2019, the ASMR of malaria declined. Compared to other age cohorts, the ASIR, ASMR, and ASDR for children aged between 1 to 4 years were found to be higher. Worst-affected regions by malaria infection were the low-middle SDI region and low SDI region.Conclusion: Malaria threatens global public health, especially in Central Sub-Saharan Africa and Western Sub-Saharan Africa. Children 1– 4 years old continue to bear the most significant burden of malaria. The study’s results will guide efforts to reduce malaria’s impact on the global population.Keywords: malaria, global burden of disease, ASIR, ASMR, ASD