Neurological Conditions Ranked as Leading Cause of DALYs Globally

FRIDAY, March 15, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in 2021, according to a study published online March 14 in The Lancet Neurology.

Jaimie D. Steinmetz, Ph.D., from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, and colleagues estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability, years of life lost, and DALYs by age and sex in 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2021. Morbidity and deaths due to 37 unique neurologic conditions were examined.

The researchers found that in 2021, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs globally, affecting 3.40 billion individuals (43.1 percent of the global population). Between 1990 and 2021, there was an 18.2 percent increase seen in global DALY counts attributed to these conditions. During the same time period, there was a decrease in the age-standardized rates of deaths per 100,000 people attributed to these conditions (33.6 percent decrease) and in the age-standardized rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions (27.0 percent decrease). The age-standardized prevalence was stable, changing by 1.5 percent.

“The findings in this study have important health service and policy implications and serve as evidence that global neurological health loss has been underrecognized and is increasing and unevenly distributed geographically and socioeconomically,” the authors write.

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