To represent uncertainty in the estimates we used simulation analysis to take 1000 draws from the posterior distribution of exposure, RR, and each relevant outcome for each age, sex, country, year. We accounted for the correlation structure of uncertainty (ie, whether exposure in a country, age group, and sex is high or low might be related to whether it is high or low in other subgroups) by use of the same draw of exposure across different outcomes and the same draw of RR across country, age, and sex subgroups when the RR does not vary by country, age, or sex. We otherwise assumed that the uncertainties in exposure, RR, and underlying burden attributable to the outcome were independent.
