Neurological conditions in Australia

In 2024 (AIHW 2024):

• neurological conditions were responsible for over 486,000 years of healthy life lost or DALY (15 DALY per 1,000 population, or 13 DALY per 1,000 age-standardised), making them the 5th leading disease group causing burden in Australia
  • this was equivalent to 8.4% of the total disease burden overall –10.1% of the total disease burden among females and 6.8% of the total disease burden among males
• females accounted for 57% of the total disease burden attributed to neurological conditions, and males accounted for 43%
• dementia was the leading cause of total disease burden for neurological conditions for both females and males, accounting for 5.7% of the total disease burden in females and 3.4% of the total disease burden in males
• for females, migraine, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease were the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th (single) leading causes of burden for neurological conditions respectively
• for males, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and migraine were the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th (single) leading causes of total burden for neurological conditions respectively

• about half of the DALY for neurological conditions were due to years lived with disability (YLD of 244,000 years) and half due to years of life lost (YLL of 242,000 years), representing 7.8% of the non-fatal burden in Australia and 9.1% of the fatal burden respectively
  • among females, neurological conditions accounted for 9.4% of the non-fatal burden and 11.1% of the fatal burden
  • among males, neurological conditions accounted for 6.0% of the non-fatal burden and 7.6% of the fatal burden 
• of the disease burden for neurological conditions, females accounted for 64% of YLD and 51% of YLL; males accounted for 36% of YLD and 49% of YLL (Figure 4).

Socioeconomic and remoteness areas

The most recent burden of disease statistics disaggregated by socioeconomic and remoteness areas, at the time of writing this report, are from the ABDS 2018 (AIHW 2021).

In 2018, the age-standardised rate of total disease burden attributed to neurological conditions was:

• lower for people living in higher socioeconomic areas, with people in the highest socioeconomic areas having the lowest age-standardised rate (almost 12 DALY per 1,000 population)
• lower for people living in Major cities (13.1 DALY per 1,000 population) and Remote and very remote areas (12.6 DALY per 1,000 population), compared with people living in Inner regional areas (14.9 DALY per 1,000 population) and Outer regional areas (13.7 DALY per 1,000 population).

Trends over time

From 2003 to 2024: 

• neurological conditions moved from being the 6^th leading disease group causing burden in 2003, responsible for 242,000 DALY, to the 5^th leading disease group in 2024, responsible for 486,000 DALY
• the crude DALY rate increased from 12 to 18 DALY per 1,000 population (15 to 21 per 1,000 for females and 10 to 16 per 1,000 for males)
  • this reflected an increase in the crude YLL rate from 5 to 9 per 1,000 population, and a smaller increase in the crude YLD rate from 8 to 9 per 1,000 population
• the age-standardised DALY rate increased by 16%, from 12 to 14 DALY per 1,000 population (from 13 to 15 per 1,000 for females and from 11 to 13 per 1,000 for males)
  • this reflected an increase in the age-standardised YLL rate (from 4.5 to 6.5 YLL per 1,000 people) and a somewhat stable age-standardised YLD rate (at about 7.5 YLD per 1,000 people)
• dementia remained the leading cause of total burden for neurological conditions for both females and males
• for females, migraine, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease remained the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th (single) leading causes of total burden, respectively
• for males, Parkinson’s disease went from being the 4^th (single) leading cause of total burden to being the 2^nd, with epilepsy and migraine going from 2^nd and 3^rd to 3^rd and 4^th, respectively.