title: Prevalence and incidence of neurological disorders among adult Ugandans in rural and urban Mukono district; a cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The burden of neurological diseases is increasing in developing countries. However, there is a prominent scarcity of literature on the incidence of neurological diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. This study was therefore undertaken to determine the prevalence and incidence of neurological diseases in this setting to serve as a baseline for planning and care for neurological disorders in Uganda.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted within rural and urban Mukono district, east of Kampala city of Uganda, central region. Over a period of six months, a cross sectional survey was conducted and screening was performed using a standardized questionnaire. All subjects with neurological symptoms and signs were reviewed by a team of neurologists and neurological diagnoses made.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 3000 study subjects, 50.3% (1510/3000) were from the rural setting. Out of the participants screened, 67.4% were female, with a median age of 33 years. Among the 98 subjects with confirmed neurological disorders, the frequency of diseases was as follows; peripheral neuropathy (46.2%), chronic headaches (26.4%), and epilepsy (8.5%), followed by pain syndromes (7.5%), stroke (6.6%) and tremors/Parkinson disease (3.8%). The crude prevalence rates of these disorders (95% CI) were 14.3% (8.5-24.1); 13.3% (7.7-22.8); 33.7% (23.9-47.4) for stroke, epilepsy and peripheral neuropathy respectively. Peripheral neuropathy followed by chronic headaches had the highest estimated incidence/1000 years. Stroke had an estimated incidence of 3.6 new cases with 95% CI of (2.1-6.1)/1000 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Peripheral neuropathy, chronic headaches and epilepsy disorders are major causes of morbidity in Sub-Saharan settings. There is an urgent need of more robust and powered studies to determine the incidence of these diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, P.O. Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda. kaddumark@yahoo.co.uk.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaddumukasa
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration, Mulago Hill Road, MUJHU3 Building, P.O. Box 7475, Kampala, Uganda.|Interuniversity Institute for Biostatistics and Statistical Bioinformatics, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
authors.forename: Leviticus
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mugenyi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, P.O. Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Martin N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Kaddumukasa
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, St Raphael of St Francis Nsambya Hospital, Nkozi University, P.O. Box 7146, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ddumba
authors.affiliation: University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Neurological Institute Case Western Reserve University, 11100 Euclid Avenue, 44106, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Devereaux
authors.affiliation: University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Neurological Institute Case Western Reserve University, 11100 Euclid Avenue, 44106, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Furlan
authors.affiliation: Neurological and Behavioral Outcomes Center, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, 11100 Euclid Avenue, 44106, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sajatovic
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, P.O. Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Elly
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Katabira
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003906:Developing Countries; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D020773:Headache Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014454:Uganda / Q000453:epidemiology; D014504:Urban Health; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Epidemiology; Neurological disorders; Prevalence; Uganda