Table 2

Leading causes of disability, years lived with disability (YLD) by cause as percent of YLD from all causes, developing countriesa, 2002
Cause group
 % of total YLD
Female to male ratio
I. Communicable, maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions
 23.4
 1.36
     Infectious and parasitic diseases
 10.9
 0.95
     Maternal conditions
 3.8
 -
     Perinatal conditions
 3.1
 0.98
     Nutritional deficiencies
 4.4
 1.08
II. Noncommunicable diseases
 64.9
 1.03
     Malignant neoplasms
 0.3
 2.02
     Diabetes mellitus
 1.1
 1.11
     Neuropsychiatric conditions
 29.4
 1.09
          Unipolar depressive disorders
 11.1
 1.47
          Bipolar disorder
 2.5
 0.98
          Schizophrenia
 2.9
 0.97
          Alcohol use disorders
 2.5
 0.15
          Alzheimer and other dementias*
 1.0
 1.40
          Drug use disorders
 0.8
 0.28
          Other neuropsychiatric disorders
 8.6
 1.37
     Sense organ diseases
 13.0
 1.13
          Vision disordersb
 8.7
 1.26
          Hearing loss, adult onset
 4.3
 0.92
     Cardiovascular diseases
 3.3
 0.82
     Respiratory diseases
 4.2
 0.72
     Musculoskeletal diseases
 4.6
 1.18
     Other non-communicable diseases
 8.9
 0.90
III. Injuries
 11.7
 0.66
     Unintentional injuries
 9.7
 0.75
     Intentional injuries
 2.0
 0.32

a Developing countries includes all countries except for European countries, former Soviet countries, Canada, USA, Cuba, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore.

b Vision disorders includes vision loss due to glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration and other age-related vision loss.

Mathers et al. BMC Public Health 2004 4:66   doi:10.1186/1471-2458-4-66