HealthDay (8/29, Dallas) reports that, according to a study from the Global Burden of Disease Study published online Aug. 29 in The Lancet, in 2010, “mental and substance abuse disorders were the leading cause of nonfatal health issues” globally. A separate study in the same issue found that “opioid dependence causes the greatest health burden of all illicit drugs.” An accompanying commentary “noted that the ‘relative lack of information about the prevalence of mental and drug use disorders, and the harms associated with these disorders, emphasizes the need…for increased efforts to quantify both the prevalence of mental and drug use disorders and the risks posed by these conditions.”
The NPR (8/29, Knox) “Shots” blog reports that two legal substances, smoking and alcohol, “account for around 10 percent of the worldwide burden of illness and death.”
Related Links:
— “Mental and Substance Disorders Major Cause of Nonfatal Illnesses, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, August 28, 2013.