Neurological disorders are becoming more common worldwide, a new study has found.
The number of people living and dying with such conditions as Alzheimer's disease, other dementias, meningitis, and stroke has risen "substantially" over the past three decades, an international collaborations of researchers reported.
Their analysis revealed that, in 2021, 3.4 billion people suffered from a neurological condition—this is roughly 43 percent of the world's entire population.
The study attributes the increase in these disorders to both the ageing global population, as well as a concurrent increase in lifestyle risk factors.
The team found an 18 percent increase in disability, illness and premature death caused by these conditions over a 31 year-period.
The most common neurological health disorders in 2021 were found to be stroke, brain injury, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, migraines, nerve damage, meningitis, epilepsy, autism spectrum disorder and nervous system cancers.
The researchers also found that cognitive decline following COVID-19 accounted for losses of healthy life in 2021.
The new study greatly emphasizes the need for more research into these conditions. However, neurological conditions are famously hard to treat.
"Because many neurological conditions lack cures, and access to medical care is often limited, understanding modifiable risk factors and the potentially avoidable neurological condition burden is essential to help curb this global health crisis," co-lead author Katrin Seeher, Mental Health Specialist at WHO's Brain Health Unit said in a statement.
Reacting to the findings, scientists not involved in the study note that the work not only reveals how these conditions are increasing, but also flags how common conditions can have an effect on neurological health.
"These findings are striking, but on the whole, unfortunately not that surprising," professor Paresh Malhotra—head of the Division of Neurology at Imperial College London and Consultant Neurologist at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust—told Newsweek.
He continued: "We know about the huge impact of stroke and Alzheimer's Disease, and this study also highlights the importance of neurodevelopmental and pediatric conditions, as well as very common conditions such as migraine."
Malhotra also said that the study highlights how diseases that we do not think of as being neurological can still have major impacts on the nervous system. Diabetes, for example, can lead to nerve problems and increase the risk of stroke.
"The findings are very concerning because they show the extent of neurological disease and its contribution to global disease burden," he added.
"They show the importance of systematic approaches to preventing and treating these diseases, as well as investing in research, which will be our main means of combatting neurological disorders."
Malhotra said research will be "critical" to change these numbers as the more we find out about these conditions, the easier they will be to treat.
Tara Spires-Jones, President of the British Neuroscience Association and Group Leader in the UK Dementia Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh told Newsweek that the study is "important and well conducted," reinforcing the global impact that these conditions have.
"While these global impacts are striking and of great concern, there is hope through research," Spires-Jones said. "We know from fields like heart disease and cancer that research works to tackle this type of large health problem through a combination of treatments and public health interventions.
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"Neuroscience research is now progressing rapidly offering hope through new treatments for diseases like dementias and through better understanding of lifestyle modifications to best care for our brains."
The full findings of the study are published in the journal The Lancet Neurology.
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