Neurology in low and middle-income countries

The Global Burden of Diseases (GBD), Injuries, and Risk Factors Study produces the most comprehensive epidemiological estimates. Results yielded in 2017, indicated that cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, were the top cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. However, a re-analysis by the Neurology Collaborators of the 2016 GBD Study, spanning 15 disease categories that require specialist neurological care, showed that the highest burden was attributable to neurological diseases. For this analysis, stroke was classified as a neurological disorder instead of under cardiovascular diseases and, for the first time, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury were also included as neurological disorders.