Many countries are not doing enough to decrease the common risk factors associated with chronic diseases, leaving populations vulnerable to health emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic -- that's one of the main messages emerging from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study. Those risk factors include obesity, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, as well as air pollution, alcohol use and drug use, the team at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, which conducts the study, found.