Burden of Neurological Disease in the Elderly

A population-based study of 50,000 individuals aged 45 to 85 years looked at the presence of epilepsy, Parkinson disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and migraine, and their effects on health care utilization in Canada.¹

The presence of neurologic disease was associated with a greatly increased probability of visiting a medical specialist, emergency department, and overnight hospitalization. In addition, psychiatric and somatic comorbidities were increased.

These striking associations are a call for public policy and research initiatives as it relates to aging populations with neurologic conditions.

Reference

1. Wolfson C, Fereshtehnejad SM, Pasquet R, et al. The high burden of neurological disease in the older general population: Results from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. Eur J Neurol. 2018 Oct 9 [Epub ahead of print].