Challenges for Estimating the Global Prevalence of Micronutrient Deficiencies and Related Disease Burden: A Case Study of the Global Burden of Disease Study

Author(s)

Sonja Y. Hess, Institute for Global Nutrition and Department of Nutrition, University of California
Alexander C. McLain, University of South Carolina - ColumbiaFollow
Edward A. Frongillo Jr., University of South CarolinaFollow
Ashkan Afshin, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington
Nicholas J. Kassebaum, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington
Saskia J. Osendarp, The Micronutrient Forum
Reed Atkin, The Micronutrient Forum
Rahul Rawat, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Kenneth H. Brown, Institute for Global Nutrition and Department of Nutrition, University of California

ORCID iD

Edward Frongillo: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8265-9815

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Information on the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies is needed to determine related disease burden; underpin evidence-based advocacy; and design, deliver, and monitor safe, effective interventions. Assessing the global prevalence of deficiency requires a valid micronutrient status biomarker with an appropriate cutoff to define deficiency and relevant data from representative surveys across multiple locations and years. The Global Burden of Disease Study includes prevalence estimates for iodine, iron, zinc, and vitamin A deficiencies, for which recommended biomarkers and appropriate deficiency cutoffs exist. Because representative survey data are lacking, only retinol concentration is used to model vitamin A deficiency, and proxy indicators are used for the other micronutrients (goiter for iodine, hemoglobin for iron, and dietary food adequacy for zinc). Because of data limitations, complex statistical modeling is required to produce current estimates, relying on assumptions and proxies that likely understate the extent of micronutrient deficiencies and the consequent global health burden.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzab141

Publication Info

Published in Current Developments in Nutrition, Issue 12, 2021, pages nzab141-.

Rights

© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society for Nutrition. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

APA Citation

Hess, S., McLain, A., Frongillo, E., Afshin, A., Kassebaum, N., & Osendarp, S. et al. (2021). Challenges for Estimating the Global Prevalence of Micronutrient Deficiencies and Related Disease Burden: A Case Study of the Global Burden of Disease Study. Current Developments In Nutrition, 5(12). https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzab141