[Accuracy of lifestyle data from Global Burden of Disease]

Low physical activity is responsible for approximately 0,83 million deaths globally every year according to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), whereas others have estimated that low physical activity is responsible for about 4-5 million deaths annually. The underlying evidence for the GBD estimate is debatable. It is based on a substantially lower maximal risk reduction with a relative risk of about 10 % compared with a maximal relative risk reduction of more than 30 % in the recent WHO global physical activity recommendations. According to GBD, dietary risks are responsible for 10 times more deaths compared to low physical activity. This estimate is based on 15 different dietary risk factors without systematically considering covariation between risk factors. It is of utmost importance that a reliable and transparent evidence base is presented in future GBD publications about the impact of disease risk factors on the global disease burden. Misleading messages about the importance of physical activity for reducing chronic diseases will undermine the work conducted to develop evidence-based knowledge about the health effects of physical activity.