Nearly 470 Million People in the Americas Live With Neurological Disorders, PAHO Study Finds
A new study led by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Health Organization’s regional office for the Americas, estimates that nearly 470 million people across North and South America are living with at least one neurological disorder.
That figure amounts to roughly two in five people in the region. The conditions include migraine, stroke, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as Parkinson’s disease, tension-type headache, autism spectrum disorders and traumatic brain injuries.
Neurological disorders affect the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. They can impair movement, memory, learning, communication and behavior, often requiring sustained medical care and support.
The analysis, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, reviewed 19 noncommunicable and injury-related neurological conditions across 38 countries and territories from 1990 to 2023.
Researchers found that age-adjusted death rates have declined since 1990, a sign that more people are surviving these conditions. But survival brings a growing need for long-term care, rehabilitation and social support—services that are not equally available across the region.
PAHO researchers reported nearly a fourfold difference between countries with the highest and lowest disease impact, measured by years of life lost to disease. Countries with the highest impact included Haiti, Guyana and Suriname, while Colombia, Peru and Argentina were among those with the lowest.
The gap reflects differences in exposure to risk factors as well as persistent inequities in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and long-term care. PAHO said a significant share of neurological health loss could be prevented by controlling or avoiding high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, tobacco use and harmful environmental exposures.
Even as age-standardized mortality and disease burden rates fell between 1990 and 2023, the total number of affected people continued to rise, driven by population growth and aging. The findings point to an epidemiological transition in the Americas: while the toll of some vascular and congenital conditions has fallen, neurodegenerative and other chronic neurological disorders linked to aging are becoming more prominent.
For health systems, the trend poses a dual challenge: expanding prevention and acute care while building the long-term services needed by a growing number of people living with neurological conditions.