Relative compression or expansion of morbidity: further evidence from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010

Healthy life expectancies (HALE) for 187 countries in 1990 and 2010 were produced as part of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010). Salomon et al (2012) examined absolute changes in years of life lost to disability and found evidence for the expansion of morbidity. This article examines the evidence for compression or expansion of morbidity on a relative basis compared to the absolute approach presented in Salomon et al. In spite of the higher number of cases of relative compression, the different levels of change between those countries with relative compression and those with relative expansion means that at a global level the conclusion that there has been not only absolute but also relative expansion of morbidity is confirmed.