Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden..., 2024

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(24)00038-3/fulltext

Findings
Globally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.

Interpretation
As the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed.

 

Given everything we know about how ineffective neurological medicine, and how Freud still rules everything they don't understand, this is horrifying. It's also likely to be an undercount, since it obviously doesn't count most neurological issues found in chronic illnesses, like dysautonomia and POTS. Half the world's population, and it's an undercount.

This may explain the growth of psychosomatic ideology in neurology, and the intensity of pushing through the functional variant. They are nowhere close to being able to meet this demand, the needs are constantly growing and they barely have effective treatments for anything they do, most of which are complex cases.

They do mention the role of infectious diseases, and several of the conditions are explicitly the result of infections, including COVID. Maybe they'll even start doing something about it, but I doubt they can manage it, not until medical AIs start doing most of the work. They probably don't even have 5% of the capacity they need right now, and it may be closer to 1%. I've rarely seen such a large problem being so absurdly outmatched in its response.