The global burden of PAH shows considerable geographic and demographic disparities, with stable prevalence but declining mortality and DALY rates from 1990 to 2021.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a life-threatening disorder characterized by pulmonary arterial remodeling. Limited quantitative research is available on the spatiotemporal burden of PAH. The prevalence, incidence, mortality, disability-adjusted life-years and corresponding age-standardized rates were derived from the global burden of disease 2021 study. Estimated annual percentage changes and average annual percentage changes were calculated to explore the disease trend. In 2021, there were approximately 1918,100 (95%UI: 1,553,600-2,357,900) prevalent cases of PAH worldwide, with an age-standardized prevalence rate (ASPR) of 2.28 (95%UI: 1.85-2.80) per 100,000 population. The number of incident cases amounted to about 432,500 (95%UI: 347,000-524,400), with an age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) of 0.52 (95%UI: 0.42-0.62). It presented a stable status for ASPR, a slight increased trend for ASIR, a decline trend for age-standardized mortality rate and age-standardized disability-adjusted life-years rate during past 32 years. The countries with the highest ASPR were in Southern and Northern Europe. Meanwhile, the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa suffered highest ASIR, including Zambia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Malawi. The highest age-specific prevalence and incidence rates were observed in the 75 to 79 age group in 2021. The ASPR of PAH increased with the social-development index (SDI) across different countries, whereas the ASIR exhibited a negative correlation with SDI. The spatiotemporal burden of PAH revealed considerable geographic and demographic disparities from 1990 to 2021. Our findings could offer effective insights for shaping public health strategies and allocating health-care resources among regions with different SDI.
Lu et al. (Fri,) studied this question.