Epidemiology of Neurological Disorders

Neurological disorders are leading causes of disability and the second leading cause of death worldwide. Demographic changes in most countries contributed to an increase in individuals affected by one or more neurological diseases over the last decades, causing challenges for medical services and patient care. During the same time period advances in clinical diagnostics, imaging methods and biomarker analysis have contributed to a better understanding of the development and pathophysiology of several neurological conditions. Wearable smart devices, collecting a large variety of data, are increasingly used in private settings, but also in clinical diagnostics. These methods are now also applied in population-based large cohort studies enforcing digitalization and automatization of assessment and analysis methods and lead to more and more subspecialisations. The field of neuroepidemiology is therefore highly dynamic. This chapter provides a brief overview of frequencies, risk and protective factors of important neurological diseases and describes several of the fields’ specifics and challenges.