Hi all, This might be of interest, given what it says about disabilities, which have implications for transportation from the perspective of mobility and accessibility. Phyllis "Joel Moskowitz" <jmm(a)berkeley.edu> Date: Thu, December 13, 2012 12:28 pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Compliments of Center for Family and Community Health School of Public Health University of California, Berkeley http://cfch.berkeley.edu New ‘Burden of Disease’ study shows world’'s people living longer but with more disability http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/health/healthy-life-expectancy/ The health of most of the planet’'s population is rapidly coming to resemble that of the United States, where death in childhood is rare, too much food is a bigger problem than too little, and life is long and often darkened by disability. High blood pressure is now the leading “risk factor” for disease around the world. Alcohol use is the third. Low back pain now causes more disability than childbirth complications or anemia. “We are in transition to a world where disability is the dominant concern as opposed to premature death,” said Christopher J. L. Murray of the University of Washington, who headed the Global Burden of Disease Study published Thursday. http://www.thelancet.com/themed/global-burden-of-disease “