Due to an absence of a referral bias in the recruitment of participants, population-based investigations as compared to hospital-based studies have a high grade of scientific quality, combined with the disadvantage of a relatively low number of participants affected by the diseases. The results obtained in numerous population-based studies have been summarized and yearly updated by the Global Burden of Disease and Injury Study (GBD) as the largest and most comprehensive effort to quantify health loss across regions and over time. Its aims are among others to assess health systems for their efficacy, detect disparities, explore the role of risk factors for diseases, examine inter-relationships between diseases, and update changes in the global health status.1,2 It comprehensively assesses regional and global mortality and disability from major diseases, injuries, and risk factors. Based in the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the GBD is a collaboration of over 12,000 researchers from more than 160 countries under the guidance of the principal investigator Christopher J.L. Murray.