Global, regional, and national burden of neurological disorders, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016
GBD 2016 Neurology Collaborators
Lancet Neurology DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30499-X
Vitamin D has been proven to both prevent AND treat Strokes
- Overview Stroke and vitamin D
- More Cognitive Impairment after some types of stroke if low vitamin D - many studies
- Depression following a stroke is 2.7 X more likely if low vitamin D – Sept 2018
- Deep Vein Thrombosis during ischemic stroke rehab was 4.7 X more likely if low vitamin D – July 2018
- Improved recovery from ischemic stroke with Vitamin D (300,000 IU injection) – RCT June 2018
- Ischemic stroke 17 X more likely if low vitamin D – April 2017
- Strokes 3 X worse if low vitamin D – Jan 2018
- Large vessel Ischemic Stroke 13 X more likely if low vitamin D – Nov 2017
- Low vitamin D at time of stroke predicts 3 X more likely to die in a month (unless add Vit D) – Dec 2017
- Ischemic stroke and low vitamin D – 3X higher risk of poor outcome, 6 X higher risk of a second stroke, Oct 2017
- Death within 2 years of surviving an ischemic stroke 10X less likely if high vitamin D – July 2017
Stroke Meta-analyses
- Stroke and Vitamin D meta-analyses - many studies
- Vitamin D is the best Vitamin to prevent a stroke - meta-analysis Jan 2024
- Recurrent Stroke 5X more-likely if very low vitamin D - meta-analysis Feb 2023
- Ignoring dose size etc, meta-analysis concludes that Vitamin D does not help (stroke risk in this case) – Aug 2022
- Stroke 22 percent more likely if low Vitamin D – meta-analysis July 2021
- Stroke risks increased if low Vitamin D: Death 3.6 X, recurrence 5.5 X – Meta-analysis Nov 2019
- Ischemic Stroke risk reduced by 2.5 if have good level of vitamin D – meta-analysis Feb 2018
- Vitamin D associated with 50 percent less ischemic stroke – meta-analysis Aug 2012
- Cerebrovascular disease 40 percent less likely if high level of vitamin D – meta-analysis Sept 2012
- 50 percent fewer strokes with vitamin D, even though ignored dose size – meta-analysis March 2012
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Strokes appear to be the largest Neurological cause of years lost due to disability
Background
Neurological disorders are increasingly recognised as major causes of death and disability worldwide. The aim of this analysis from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2016 is to provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date estimates of the global, regional, and national burden from neurological disorders.
Methods
We estimated prevalence, incidence, deaths, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs; the sum of years of life lost [YLLs] and years lived with disability [YLDs]) by age and sex for 15 neurological disorder categories (tetanus, meningitis, encephalitis, stroke, brain and other CNS cancers, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron diseases, idiopathic epilepsy, migraine, tension-type headache, and a residual category for other less common neurological disorders) in 195 countries from 1990 to 2016. DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression tool, was the main method of estimation of prevalence and incidence, and the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm) was used for mortality estimation. We quantified the contribution of 84 risks and combinations of risk to the disease estimates for the 15 neurological disorder categories using the GBD comparative risk assessment approach.
Findings
Globally, in 2016, neurological disorders were the leading cause of DALYs (276 million [95% UI 247–308]) and second leading cause of deaths (9·0 million [8·8–9·4]). The absolute number of deaths and DALYs from all neurological disorders combined increased (deaths by 39% [34–44] and DALYs by 15% [9–21]) whereas their age-standardised rates decreased (deaths by 28% [26–30] and DALYs by 27% [24–31]) between 1990 and 2016. The only neurological disorders that had a decrease in rates and absolute numbers of deaths and DALYs were tetanus, meningitis, and encephalitis. The four largest contributors of neurological DALYs were stroke (42·2% [38·6–46·1]), migraine (16·3% [11·7–20·8]), Alzheimer's and other dementias (10·4% [9·0–12·1]), and meningitis (7·9% [6·6–10·4]). For the combined neurological disorders, age-standardised DALY rates were significantly higher in males than in females (male-to-female ratio 1·12 [1·05–1·20]), but migraine, multiple sclerosis, and tension-type headache were more common and caused more burden in females, with male-to-female ratios of less than 0·7. The 84 risks quantified in GBD explain less than 10% of neurological disorder DALY burdens, except stroke, for which 88·8% (86·5–90·9) of DALYs are attributable to risk factors, and to a lesser extent Alzheimer's disease and other dementias (22·3% [11·8–35·1] of DALYs are risk attributable) and idiopathic epilepsy (14·1% [10·8–17·5] of DALYs are risk attributable).
Interpretation
Globally, the burden of neurological disorders, as measured by the absolute number of DALYs, continues to increase. As populations are growing and ageing, and the prevalence of major disabling neurological disorders steeply increases with age, governments will face increasing demand for treatment, rehabilitation, and support services for neurological disorders. The scarcity of established modifiable risks for most of the neurological burden demonstrates that new knowledge is required to develop effective prevention and treatment strategies.
Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.