Table 1.
Estimates of global burden of critical illness by World Bank region*
| Population in 2004 (×103) |
Number of deaths in 2004 (×103)† |
Estimated potential burden of selected critical illnesses per year (×103)‡ |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Infection | Maternal conditions | Malignant neoplasms | Cardiovascular diseases | Injuries | Patients mechanically ventilated | Acute lung injury | Sepsis | ||
| High-income countries | 949 818 | 8008 | 468 (6%) | 1 (0%) | 2146 (27%) | 2978 (37%) | 490 (6%) | 2000–3000 | 170–820 | 2300–2800 |
| East Asia and Pacific | 1 892 113 | 14 000 | 1776 (13%) | 44 (<1%) | 2284 (16%) | 4439 (32%) | 1678 (12%) | 3900–5900 | 340–1600 | 4500–5700 |
| Europe and central Asia | 476 096 | 5684 | 284 (5%) | 3 (<1%) | 820 (14%) | 3248 (57%) | 604 (11%) | 990–1500 | 85–410 | 1100–1400 |
| Latin America and Caribbean | 549 187 | 3499 | 474 (14%) | 16 (<1%) | 543 (16%) | 998 (29%) | 407 (12%) | 1100–1700 | 98–470 | 1300–1600 |
| Middle East and north Africa | 324 542 | 2114 | 299 (14%) | 15 (<1%) | 181 (9%) | 732 (35%) | 281 (13%) | 680–1000 | 58–280 | 780–970 |
| South Asia | 1 493 430 | 13 778 | 3993 (29%) | 179 (1%) | 954 (7%) | 3438 (25%) | 1476 (11%) | 3100–4700 | 270–1300 | 3600–4500 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 749 269 | 11 662 | 6475 (56%) | 269 (2%) | 493 (4%) | 1232 (11%) | 847 (7%) | 1600–2400 | 130–650 | 1800–2200 |
| World | 6 436 826 | 58 772 | 13 777 (23%) | 527 (1%) | 7424 (13%) | 17 073 (29%) | 5784 (10%) | 13 000–20 000 | 1150–5500 | 15 000–19 000 |
Data are number (percentage of total in region). Percentages do not add up because other causes of death are not listed. Data for population and deaths are from the Global Burden of Disease project, available at http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/en/index.html.
Classification was done according to the World Bank income and geographical categories used in the disease control priorities project (details available at http://www.dcp2.org/pubs/GBD). World totals include some countries and territories that are not part of the World Bank regions.
Infection includes categories of infectious or parasitic diseases and respiratory infections; maternal conditions include sepsis, haemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, obstructed labour, and abortions; cardiovascular diseases include rheumatic, ischaemic, hypertensive, inflammatory, and cerebrovascular diseases; injuries include both unintentional and intentional causes.
Data are estimates based on estimates of North American population yearly incidence of mechanical ventilation,32, 33 acute lung injury,28, 30 and sepsis25 and severe sepsis,24 extrapolated to other regions based on population. These estimates are for illustration purposes only and assume that those other regions have similar intensive care capacity, underlying risk factors for the outcomes listed, and age-distributions and sex-distributions to North America. These numbers can best be interpreted as the burden of critical illness given capacity and population similar to North America.