Neuroepidemiology of major neurological disorders in rural Bengal.

A Neuroepidemiological survey was carried at Malda district, 350 Km away from Calcutta; exactly at midpoint between Siliguri and Calcutta on a rural population of 37,286 (M 18,057; F 19,229; 1981 Census) under three Gram Panchayat areas with the help of non-professionals like Gram Panchayat members, ICDS workers, multipurpose health workers and motivated local youths, based on W.H.O. protocol (1981). House to house survey was carried out. Sensitivity reached 90 and Specificity 86. Total 961 individuals with neurological problems were screened and classified according to simple, but well defined criteria. Single disease was seen in 857 patients and 104 patients had double disease. Crude prevalence rate stands at ( 2856.26 per 1,00,000), epilepsy (305 per 1,00,000), vertigo (24.45 per 1,00,000), mental retardation (42.90 per 1,00,000), paralytic poliomyelitis (53.63 per, 1,00,000), movement disorders (26.81 per 1,00,000), spinal cord disorders (21 per 1,00,000), motor neurone disease (2.7 pre 1,00,000), development of speech and language (34 per 1,00,000). Age specific prevalence disease showed progressive increase in rate with advancing age upto 4th decade followed by a slightly decrease plateau upto 60 years of age and then sharp decline. Age and sex specific disease prevalence shows female dominance with maximum cases in 4th decade.