Abstract: The study aims to summarize the researches on disease burden in recent years and to provide references for the study of disease burden in the future. This article describes the basic definition of disease burden, the procedures to quantify the health and economic losses and the economic impacts on the society caused by illness, injury and premature death, the classification of disease burden, and application and evolution of the indexes commonly used. The article also discusses current situation of disease burden researches at home and abroad, including latest research results of the global burden of disease GBD2016, health adjusted life for 195 countries around the world, calculation of adjustment disability life and other indicators, and key topics and insufficiencies of disease burden researches.