Neurological conditions now leading cause of ill health and disability globally: Lancet study

Neurological conditions such as epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are now the leading cause of ill health and disability globally, affecting 3.4 billion people in 2021, according to a major new analysis published in The Lancet Neurology journal.

Globally, the number of people living with, or dying from, neurological conditions such as stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and meningitis has risen substantially over the past 30 years. This is due to the growth and ageing of the global population as well as increased exposure to environmental, metabolic, and lifestyle risk factors, the researchers said.

The study suggests that worldwide, the overall amount of disability, illness, and premature death — a measurement known as disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) — caused by neurological conditions increased by 18 per cent over the past 31 years, rising from around 375 million years of healthy life lost in 1990 to 443 million years in 2021.

The analysis from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 shows that the absolute number of DALYs is increasing in large part due to ageing and growing populations worldwide.

The top 10 contributors to neurological health loss in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy (brain injury), migraine, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage), meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications from preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancers, the researchers said.

Neurological consequences of COVID-19 (cognitive impairment and Guillain-Barre syndrome) ranked 20th, accounting for 2.48 million years of healthy life lost in 2021, they said.