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. Conclusion: 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. This study was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institute of Health under MEPI - Neurology linked award number R25NS080968. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
