Table 2.
10 leading risk factors for the European region, exposure variables, theoretical minima, and contributions to total disease burden in the European region (source: Table 1 and Figure 1 in Ezzati et al. 1). See Table 1 in Ezzati et al. 1 for disease outcomes and data sources.
| Risk Factor | Exposure Variable | Theoretical Minimum | Contribution to European disease burden (%GBD) |
| High blood pressure | Level of systolic blood pressure | 115 SD 6 mmHg | 12.8% |
| Tobacco | Current levels of smoking impact ratio (indirect indicator of accumulated smoking risk based on excess lung cancer mortality); oral tobacco use prevalence | No tobacco use | 12.3% |
| Alcohol | Current alcohol consumption volumes and patterns | No alcohol use b | 10.1% |
| High cholesterol | Level of total blood cholesterol | 3.8 SD 1 mmol/l (147 SD 39 mg/dl) | 8.7% |
| High body mass index (BMI) | Body mass index, BMI (height over weight squared) | 21 SD 1 kg/m2 | 7.8% |
| Low fruit and vegetable intake | Fruit and vegetable intake per day | 600 g (SD 50 g) intake per day for adults | 4.4% |
| Physical inactivity | Three categories of inactive, insufficiently active (<2.5 hours per week of moderate-intensity activity, or less than 4000 KJ/week), and sufficiently active. Activity in discretionary-time, work, and transport considered | All having at least 2.5 hours per week of moderate-intensity activity or equivalent (400 KJ/week) | 3.5% |
| Illicit drugs | Use of amphetamine, cocaine, heroin or other opioids and intravenous drug use | No illicit drug use | 1.6% |
| Lead | Current blood lead levels | 0.016 μg/dl blood lead levels c | 0.8% |
| Unsafe sex | Sex with an infected partner without any measures to prevent infection (represented as parameters of an HIV model) | No unsafe sex | 0.7% |
a The resulting haemoglobin levels vary across regions and age-sex groups (from 11.66 g/dl in under-5 children in SEAR-D to >14.5 g/dl in adult males in developed countries) because the other risks for anaemia (e.g. malaria) vary.
b Theoretical minimum for alcohol is zero, the global theoretical minimum. Specific sub-groups may have a non-zero theoretical minimum.
c Theoretical minimum for lead is the blood lead levels expected at background exposure levels. Health effects were quantified for blood lead levels above 5 μg/dl where epidemiological studies have quantified hazards.