Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension has been identified as a major contributor to right heart failure by the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.

The Global Burden of Disease [1] (GBD) Study is the most comprehensive epidemiological study of the changing health challenges facing people across the world. Led by The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), it offers a powerful resource and an important tool to inform clinicians, researchers, and policymakers worldwide.

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) was recognised as a cause alone of right heart failure within the GBD Study 2019. A systematic analysis of the global burden of 369 diseases, published in The Lancet [2] (2020), cites PAH as a new cause added to the GBD modelling framework.

"In 2020, there were 1.92 million cases of right heart failure. 373,000 of which were contributed by Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension" Sophia Emmons-Bell, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

The forthcoming iteration of the Study will report the prevalence, incidence, and mortality rates of PAH, Recognition of the need for a more inclusive global NCD agenda provides the opportunity to expand its reach and impact significantly. This includes identifying all population-representative estimates of PAH; estimating and correcting systematic bias in data sources; and using statistical models to identify geographical trends, temporal trends, and relationships between PAH and covariates.

While causes of right heart failure were previously modelled in the GBD, PAH as a specific cause wasn't. This update represents a major step in the identification of PAH as a significant cause of right heart failure and a contributor to the global disease burden, increasing the evidence that there are close associations between major noncommunicable disease (NCDs) and a broader set of conditions, and many co-exist and share similar approaches and solutions.