A recent study published in The Lancet estimates relative health risks, exposure levels, and burden of disease as part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021. Study: Global burden and strength of evidence for 88 risk factors in 204 countries and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 . Image Credit: Chinnapong / Shutterstock.

com The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlighted significant health disparities at the individual and geographic levels due to multiple risk factors and differences in healthcare systems worldwide. Carefully conducted risk factor meta-analyses can inform public policies on emerging or persisting health challenges, as well as identify notable areas of public health progress. To produce data for these analyses, the GBD estimates relative health risk by exposure, exposure to risk factors, and attributable disease burden for multiple risk factors.

Several other research networks, such as the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC), have provided valuable population- and multi-country-level data on specific risk factors. However, only the GBD conducts systematic analyses of several risk factors in 204 countries and territories worldwide. For example, between 1990 and 2021, the GBD analyzed 88 risk factors in 204 countries and 811 subnational locations.

The current study summarizes the methods adopted in GBD 2021. It presents estimates of r.