Neurological disorders are now the leading cause of ill health worldwide, research shows
Neurological conditions ranging from migraines to stroke, Parkinson’s disease and dementia are now the leading cause of ill health worldwide, causing 11.1 million deaths in 2021, research shows.
The number of people living with or dying from nervous system disorders has risen dramatically over the past three decades, with 43% of the world’s population – 3.4 billion people – expected to be affected by 2021, according to a study published in the Lancet.
The analysis in the Research into global disease burden, injuries and risk factors suggested that the total number of disability, illness and premature deaths caused by 37 neurological conditions has increased by just over 18%, from approximately 375 million years of healthy life lost in 1990 to 443 million years in 2021.
Researchers said the increase was due to global population growth and increased life expectancy, as well as increased exposure to environmental, metabolic and lifestyle risk factors such as pollution, obesity and diet, respectively.
In Britain, figures from Brain Research UK show that one in six people have some form of neurological condition, while 2.6 million people live with the effects of traumatic brain injury or stroke.
There are more than 944,000 people in Britain with dementia, and this number is expected to increase to more than a million by 2030.
Stroke was the condition with the greatest disease burden worldwide. The other major contributors included meningitis, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, brain injury in newborn babies, neurological complications in babies born before 37 weeks of pregnancy, nerve damage caused by diabetes, autism and cancer of the nervous system.
The most common neurological disorders in 2021 were tension headaches, with approximately 2 billion cases, and migraine, with approximately 1.1 billion cases.
The fastest growing condition studied was nerve damage caused by diabetes, which ranked as the fifth highest disease burden worldwide, reflecting the sharp increase in type 2 diabetes over the same period.
For the first time, the study examined neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism, and neurological disorders in children, finding that these were responsible for 80 million years of healthy life lost worldwide in 2021 – about a fifth of the total.
The researchers highlighted global health inequalities, with 80% of neurological deaths and health losses occurring in low- and middle-income countries. In the worst affected regions of western and central sub-Saharan Africa, the death rate and years lost to ill health, disability or premature death were five times higher than the global average.
The study highlighted the importance of preventive measures to reduce the risk of developing certain neurological conditions, especially lowering high systolic blood pressure, which measures arterial pressure when the heart beats. These measures could prevent 84% of illness, disability and premature death from stroke, it found.
The lead author, Dr Jaimie Steinmetz, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said: “As the world’s leading cause of the total burden of disease, and with global cases rising by 59% since 1990, nervous system disorders should be addressed through effective, culturally acceptable and affordable strategies for prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and long-term care.”
Dr. Leah Mursaleen, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “These figures are truly worrying and underline the need for urgent action. Without this, dementia will continue to destroy millions of lives around the world. Here in Britain that means even greater pressure on the NHS.”
Juliet Bouverie, the CEO of the Stroke Association, said: “It is deeply concerning to read that neurological conditions such as stroke are now the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide. In the UK alone there are more than 100,000 strokes and 1.3 million stroke survivors every year, and these numbers are only set to increase.
“Although a stroke has a devastating effect on many people and their family and friends, it also has a huge financial impact on society. Next year the average cost of stroke to the NHS will rise to £43 billion, and this could rise to £75 billion by 2035. Then there is the loss of productivity – with one in four strokes occurring in people of working age, without healthcare support. To get stroke survivors back to work, Britain is looking at a cost of £1.3 billion a year in lost productivity.”