医学的总体目的是减轻不良健康和死亡的负担，以便个人能够享受更长，更健康的生活。确实，医学的进步意味着大多数国家的预期寿命increased by around 10 years in the past 40 years，，，，albeit with large variation between the richest and poorest countries.

由于医疗的重大进展，全球人口持续不断增长和年龄，但这导致造成最大负担的疾病类型发生了广泛的转变。从传染性（即传染性），孕产妇，新生儿和营养原因到死亡的原因非传染性疾病（NCD）。

So what does this mean in terms of disease burden? On which diseases should we be focusing our attention and efforts in thepost Millennium development goals era? And what are the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead? To discuss these important issues,BMC Medicine已经推出了一个new series在全球卫生医学收集，重点是最大的全球过早死亡率和发病率的原因。

非传染性疾病的负担增加

在死亡率方面，尤其是NCD正在成为越来越多的问题。同样，由于这些疾病主要是长期的，它们会导致健康的年龄丧失，这给个人生活质量带来了重大负担，以及development and economic growth。与过去几年降低死亡率的实质进展相比relatively little progress has been made in reduction of the overall effect of non-fatal disease and injury on population health;尽管人们的寿命更长，但他们的生活可能会减少。实际上，NCD现在很惊人54% of the total global disease burden如disability adjusted life years (DALYs).

四种这样的NCD是心血管疾病，慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD），癌症和糖尿病，它们已经因在全球范围内引起大量健康状况而被广泛认可，有时被统称为“四大”。但是，我们是否以其他NCD为代价向这些NCD提出更多关注？最近新闻文章至少对于癌症而言，确实如此。实际上，尽管“四巨头” NCD造成了大部分健康负担，但NCD负担的一半以上来自其他NCDs. In aforum article，，，，a panel of eight experts remind us that there are other NCDs that cause significant health burdens, which need to be brought out of the shadows.

Harms of heavy drinking

One such neglected NCD isliver cirrhosis，对于过度饮酒，造成了一半负担的一半。A最近的研究估计全球肝脏肝硬化负担发现，2010年造成了超过100万人死亡，埃及和摩尔多瓦死亡率最高，这表明肝硬化是一个重大的全球健康问题，并且在特定国家应加强降低风险因素的措施。在随附的评论，，，，彼得·比斯commented on these new estimates, highlighting the challenges of this analysis and discussing the ways in which the data could be used for risk-reduction strategies.

大量饮酒也是其他NCD的已知危险因素。A系统评价和荟萃分析发现，尽管没有大量饮酒发作的低酒精消耗降低了缺血性心脏病（IHD）的风险，但酒精使用障碍的人的IHD风险升高了1.5-2倍。

Despite the risks associated with heavy drinking, it is still considered an ‘acceptable risk’.Jürgen Rehm同事在一个中探索这个难题意见文章。此外，Sir Ian Gilmore，对与酒精滥用有关的健康危害特别感兴趣的肝病学教授讨论了过度饮酒的医学和公共卫生方面从视频eo Q & A。

烟草的死亡率

可能影响NCD风险的另一个生活方式是吸烟。有一个非常真实的前景，COPD，癌症和血管疾病的速率将在低收入和中等收入国家中升高，因为几十年前吸烟的全部影响揭示了自己。Alan Lopez，，，，who co-developed the Peto-Lopez method, which is widely used to estimate tobacco-attributable mortality, talks toBMC Medicine有关changing burden of tobacco-attributable mortality across the world。

There are many challenges and opportunities in addressing the biggest risks to our health. It is hoped that heightened awareness of such issues, along with increased research, will help to address the growing burden of disease to enable lives that are both long and healthy.

All of these articles are part of BMC Medicine’s ‘全球卫生医学: Big Risks’ article collection, which has launched today and is now open for submissions.该系列旨在强调解决最大的全球过早死亡原因的挑战和机遇。我们欢迎提交有关衡量问题的文章，融资选择以及旨在减轻这些大风险负担的干预措施的开发和交付。如果您希望考虑您的最新研究或评论，请发送预审查询bmcmedicineeditorial@biomedcentral.com。

BMC医学：对质量，透明和临床影响充满热情
2013 median turnover times: initial decision three days; decision after peer review 51 days