Saleh A Alqahtani, Reem AlAhmed, Mariam M Hamza, Saleh A Alessy, Ada Alqunaibet, Amal AlGhammas, David Watkins, William Msemburi, Fadiah Alkhattabi, Sarah Pickersgill, Severin Rakic, Reem F Alsukait, Christopher H Herbst, Hazzaa M Al-Hazzaa
BACKGROUND: Insufficient physical activity (PA) was estimated to cause 4.8% of deaths and 2.6% of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to noncommunicable diseases in Saudi Arabia in 2019. While Saudi Arabia is already achieving great improvements, we predict the health and economic burden of insufficient PA up to 2040 to present a case for policy makers to invest more in the uptake of PA. METHODS: Using a population health model to estimate avoidable health loss, we identified four causes of health loss related to low PA (cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer) and estimated the deaths and DALYs from these causes...
2024: PloS One