The allocation of funding by governments and research organisations can be a fickle business. Some cynics might say that it helps to be researching a disorder that affects young people, to have celebrities raising the profile of your research interest, or to be able to prove to governments or international organisations that they can save or even make some money. The findings of a survey by the European Brain Council should go some way to securing a healthy injection of research funding into neurological diseases (Eur J Neurol 2005; 12 [suppl 1]).
This review of the epidemiology of “mental disorders, neurological diseases, and neurosurgical diseases” in 28 nations and the medical, non-medical, and indirect costs of these disorders puts the cost at €386 billion in 2004 (€829 a year for each European citizen). Among the disorders included, “mental disorders” account for €240 billion (62%) of the economic burden. Neurological disorders—epilepsy, stroke, Parkinson's disease (PD), headache, and multiple sclerosis—impose the second greatest economic burden, and cost Europeans €84 billion, just over a third of the cost of mental disorders each year. Dementia, included as both a mental and a neurological disorder, costs €55 billion a year.
The area covered in the European Brain Council report includes the 25 member states of the European Union, Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland. For other countries that might be considered part of Europe (eg, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine), data were insufficient to include them in the analysis, highlighting a great gap in the knowledge of neurological epidemiology worldwide. Neurological diseases, particularly those associated with ageing, are commonly thought of as disorders of more developed nations. However, a recent study (Lancet
595—97) showed that the prevalence of PD in both rural and urban areas of China
is comparable to that in west Europe and the USA. And in other areas such as Africa, neurological infections contribute to a substantial but unevaluated burden of disease.
As the scientific community of the European Union looks forward to Framework Programme 7, which will run from 2007 to 2012, this research should help garner support for one of the priorities of the health allocation, “Research on the brain and related diseases, human development, and ageing”. With the total costs of brain disorders in Europe so high, those in charge of funding allocation cannot fail to take note. But what evidence and what funding will there be to support similar improvements in less developed countries, where burden is similar but knowledge is severly lacking?