The burden of non-communicable diseases in relation to economic status of countries

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and national human development index (HDI) of a country, as well as investigate the correlation between premature mortality from NCDs and national HDI. Method: Data for age-standardized mortality rate (ASRM) of NCDs and premature mortality (before age 70 years) in percentage for total NCDs in 2015 were obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO) databases. National HDI data for the year 2015 were obtained from the 2015 Human Development Report. Linear regression model was used for assessment of correlation between HDI and mortality. One-way ANOVA was used to test the difference in mean mortality of various HDI group countries; P ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The results suggested an inverse correlation between HDI and ASRM for both men and women. The negative relation was also reported for percentage premature mortality and HDI. Tukey post hoc test (p < 0.001) indicated that countries with very high HDI have low ASRM and premature mortality (compared to those with high HDI and so on). The greatest mortality was observed in low HDI countries. Conclusion: Management of non-communicable diseases is one of the greatest challenges for low and middle HDI countries. In order to control the disease burden, governments should pay serious attention to their economic development.