High blood pressure, alcohol and smoking ‘are deadliest global health risks’

In the space of 20 years, all three have overtaken child hunger to become the leading causes of premature death.

More than nine million people died as a result of high blood pressure in 2010, making it the deadliest single global risk factor.

Smoking accounted for 6.3 million deaths and alcohol consumption 4.9 million deaths.

International scientists participating in the Global Burden of Disease Study compared the effects of common health risk factors in 1990 and 2010.

Estimates were made both of the number of deaths attributed to each, and disability-adjusted life years (Dalys), a measurement that takes into account years of life both lost and lived with disability.

Professor Majid Ezzati, one of the study leaders from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: “Overall we’re seeing a growing burden of risk factors that lead to chronic diseases in adults, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, and a decreasing burden for risks associated with infectious diseases in children.

“But this global picture disguises the starkly different trends across regions. The risks associated with poverty have come down in most places, like Asia and Latin America, but they remain the leading issues in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Obesity, expressed as high body mass index (BMI), showed the fastest rise in harmfulness. It moved up the rankings of health burden from 10th place in 1990 to sixth in 2010,

More than three million deaths in 2010 were attributable to excess body weight, according to the study. This was more than three times the death toll due to malnutrition.

Smoking, including passive smoking, had the greatest impact on health in the high-income countries of western Europe and North America.

Alcohol was the leading risk factor in eastern Europe, most of Latin America and southern sub-Saharan Africa.