More than 213 million people in India were found to be suffering from migraine in 2019 while 60 per cent of these cases were reported by women.

A new report by the American research journal Lancet Global Health shows prevalence of migraine was higher in women aged 35–59 years than in men of the same age. Prevalence was found to have increased with age and peaked at around age 40–44 years, followed by a gradual decrease in both females and males.

The report titled ‘The burden of neurological disorders across the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 1990–2019’ published today, on  July 14 shows headache disorders, including migraine and tension type headache, were the most prevalent neurological disorder in the country in 2019 affecting over 488 million people.

The study was a collaborative effort between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

These neurological disorders include non-communicable neurological disorders such as stroke, headache disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease hereas communicable neurological disorders include encephalitis, meningitis, and tetanus.

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The study also showed that stroke was the predominant cause of death among neurological disorders in India in 2019. Stroke caused 6,99,000 deaths in 2019. It was responsible for 68 per cent of deaths from neurological disorders.

Stroke (37.9 per cent), headache disorders (17.5 per cent) and epilepsy (11.3 per cent) are the leading contributors to the burden of neurological disorders in the country. 

Over 1.3 million new cases of stroke were reported in the country in the same period. It is to be noted that high blood pressure (55.3 per cent) and air pollution (42.2 per cent) were the leading risk factors for stroke in India in 2019.