The Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 does not show a rise in the age-standardized mortality rate for cardiovascular disease in sub-Saharan Africa

High-quality information on the distribution of disease, disability, and death should be available to all governments tasked with making decision regarding the judicious use of limited resources. GBD 2010 was a systematic effort to quantify disease and disability by age and sex in 187 countries from 1990 to 2010, including all the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The study adopted the perspective that all available epidemiological information should be used and adjusted for known limitations, an approach that is particularly important for Africa. Despite Cooper and Bovet's concern that studies like GBD 2010 report a "tsunami of cardiovascular disease" in sub-Saharan Africa, GBD showed a trend toward a decline in age-standardized rates of death due to cardiovascular disease in sub-Saharan Africa but confidence intervals were broad, reflecting the limited available data. Scientific efforts should work toward making measures of bias and uncertainty more rigorous and transparent in reporting measures of public health.