Review of Non-Communicable Disease Research Activity in Kuwait: Where is the Evidence for the Best Practice?
Journal
Annals of global health
ISSN: 2214-9996
Titre abrégé: Ann Glob Health
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101620864
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
21 03 2019
21 03 2019
Historique:
entrez:
30
3
2019
pubmed:
30
3
2019
medline:
1
8
2020
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Kuwait, a small country in the Middle East, is now facing rapid development, with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounting for the majority of deaths. In this study, we review trends in NCD research productivity in Kuwait and examine to what extent it is aligned with disease burden. Systematic mapping of NCD papers produced between January 2000 and December 2013 yielded 893 publications. These were defined according to study design, study focus, and risk factors examined. Research gaps were assessed by examining disparities between literature produced and cause-specific proportional mortality rates (PMR) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). While annual publication rates increased more than two-fold during the study period, many of the study methodologies were descriptive (58%). Only 2.6% were based on high-evidence interventional studies. Cancer, CVD, and diabetes featured in 38.1%, 15.1%, and 9.2% of the publications, respectively. Compared to PMR and DALYs, there was a surplus of cancer research, most of which were laboratory-based studies (27.6%) or of the case-report/case-series study type (26.5%). Smoking was more likely to be addressed in relation to CVD (32.6%) than diabetes (6.1%) or cancer (2.1%). Physical inactivity was mostly examined in its relation to diabetes (14.6%), with negligible representation in the remaining study focus (range 0.3% to 2.2%). NCD research production in Kuwait is not aligned with disease burden or health priorities. We recommend a coordinated action between funding agencies, universities, and researchers in Kuwait to guide development of a comprehensive research agenda that is responsive to the country's emerging needs.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
Kuwait, a small country in the Middle East, is now facing rapid development, with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounting for the majority of deaths.
OBJECTIVES
In this study, we review trends in NCD research productivity in Kuwait and examine to what extent it is aligned with disease burden.
METHODS
Systematic mapping of NCD papers produced between January 2000 and December 2013 yielded 893 publications. These were defined according to study design, study focus, and risk factors examined. Research gaps were assessed by examining disparities between literature produced and cause-specific proportional mortality rates (PMR) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).
FINDINGS
While annual publication rates increased more than two-fold during the study period, many of the study methodologies were descriptive (58%). Only 2.6% were based on high-evidence interventional studies. Cancer, CVD, and diabetes featured in 38.1%, 15.1%, and 9.2% of the publications, respectively. Compared to PMR and DALYs, there was a surplus of cancer research, most of which were laboratory-based studies (27.6%) or of the case-report/case-series study type (26.5%). Smoking was more likely to be addressed in relation to CVD (32.6%) than diabetes (6.1%) or cancer (2.1%). Physical inactivity was mostly examined in its relation to diabetes (14.6%), with negligible representation in the remaining study focus (range 0.3% to 2.2%).
CONCLUSION
NCD research production in Kuwait is not aligned with disease burden or health priorities. We recommend a coordinated action between funding agencies, universities, and researchers in Kuwait to guide development of a comprehensive research agenda that is responsive to the country's emerging needs.
Identifiants
pubmed: 30924616
doi: 10.5334/aogh.2392
pmc: PMC6634600
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Informations de copyright
© 2019 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
The authors have no competing interests to declare.
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