Comparative Risk Assessment

Reliable and comparable analysis of risks to health is essential for preventing disease and injury. Analysis of disease and mortality due to risk factors has frequently been conducted in the context of methodological traditions of individual risk factors and for selected populations, hence restricting comparability. Comparative risk assessment (CRA) involves systematic evaluation of changes in population health that would result from modifying the population distribution of exposure to a risk factor or a group of risk factors, using consistent and comparable methods. Application of this framework to major risk factors for the global burden of disease illustrates a large disease burden associated with childhood and maternal undernutrition, unsafe sex, indoor air pollution from use of household solid fuels, and unsafe water and sanitation in developing countries. Other major risk factors include smoking and oral tobacco use, alcohol use, high blood pressure and blood cholesterol, and overweight and obesity in many world regions.