The North Africa and Middle East region also had a large shift from risk factors for communicable to non-communicable diseases. In 2010, risk factors for noncommunicable disease almost exclusively dominated the region’s causes of loss of health, with high blood pressure and high body-mass index each accounting for roughly 8% of disease burden, followed by tobacco smoking including second-hand smoke, high fasting plasma glucose, and physical inactivity or low physical activity. Ambient particulate matter pollution (seventh leading risk factor) is a notable cause of disease burden in this region, caused by a combination of polluted cities and dust from the Sahara desert.
