More Than 180 Million in U.S. Have Disorders Affecting the Nervous System

MONDAY, Dec. 1, 2025 (HealthDay News) — In 2021, 180.3 million U.S. individuals had disorders affecting the nervous system, according to a study published online Nov. 24 in JAMA Neurology.

John P. Ney, M.D., M.P.H., from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues quantified aggregated health loss from disorders affecting the nervous system in a cross-sectional study of the Global Burden of Disease 2021 study data.

Of the U.S. population of 332.7 million in 2021, disorders affecting the nervous system affected 180.3 million U.S. individuals and were the leading cause of disability, with 16.6 disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). The researchers found that tension-type headache, migraine, and diabetic neuropathy were the most prevalent conditions (121.9, 57.7, and 17.1 million, respectively). Stroke, Alzheimer disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, and migraine were the conditions with the greatest collective disability (3.9, 3.3, 2.2, and 2.1 million DALYs, respectively). The prevalence of disorders affecting the nervous system was almost identical compared with age-standardized metrics in 1990, with a reduction in attributable deaths (−14.6 percent) but an increase in years lived with disability (9.8 percent). The largest age-standardized DALY rates were seen in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, while the smallest were seen in New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

“Much of the rise in neurological disease burden is linked to an older U.S. population that is more vulnerable to conditions affecting the nervous system,” Ney said in a statement.

One author disclosed ties to the biotechnology industry; a second disclosed ties to the medical publishing industry.

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