Neurological Conditions
Understanding Neurological Disorders
A broad introduction to disorders of the brain and nervous system, and why county-level data for them is scarce.
Beginner explanation
The brain, spinal cord and nerves make up the nervous system, which together control all the workings of the body. When something goes wrong with part of the nervous system, a person can have trouble moving, speaking, swallowing, breathing or learning, or problems with memory, the senses or mood.[1]
“Neurological disorders” covers a huge range of conditions — MedlinePlus counts more than 600 neurologic diseases. They differ widely in cause, course and how they are measured.[1]
Key definitions
Condition characteristics
MedlinePlus groups the major types of neurologic disease as follows:[1]
- Diseases caused by faulty genes, such as Huntington’s disease and muscular dystrophy
- Problems with how the nervous system develops, such as spina bifida
- Degenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease
- Diseases of the blood vessels that supply the brain, such as stroke
- Injuries to the spinal cord and brain
- Seizure disorders, such as epilepsy
- Cancer, such as brain tumors
- Infections, such as meningitis
Source[1]
Risk factors
Because these are many different diseases, there is no single set of risk factors. Some are inherited, some relate to development before birth, some to injury or infection, and some to the blood vessels — high blood pressure, for example, can cause the kind of stroke in which a brain artery bursts.[1, 2]
MedEquity note: The articles on stroke, ALS and aphasia in this category describe the risk factors for those specific conditions.
Prevention and public health context
Prevention depends on the condition. Stroke is one neurological event where prevention of shared cardiovascular risk factors and fast emergency care make a large difference: brain cells start to die within minutes when their blood supply is blocked.[2]
Texas data context
No verified condition-specific county measure exists for neurological disorders such as ALS, aphasia, Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease, so MedEquity does not map them. The closest available county measure is PLACES stroke prevalence: adults who report ever being told by a health professional that they had a stroke.[3]
Stroke is shown as a related measure only. It does not measure any other neurological condition, and PLACES estimates cannot be used to track change over time.[4]
Related measures on the Explore map
- Stroke among adults (modeled estimate)
Advanced material (optional)
MedEquity note: Rare conditions are hard to measure at county level: small numbers of cases produce unstable rates, and many conditions are not captured by the large population surveys that support county estimates.
Condition-specific registries are another approach. CDC’s National ALS Registry, for example, gathers information from people living with ALS to support research nationally.[5]
References
- Neurologic Diseases (Nervous System Diseases). MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine. https://medlineplus.gov/neurologicdiseases.html (accessed 2026-10-18).
- About Stroke. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/stroke/about/index.html (accessed 2026-10-18).
- PLACES Measure Definitions: Health Outcomes. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/places/measure-definitions/health-outcomes.html (accessed 2026-10-18).
- PLACES: Frequently Asked Questions. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/places/faqs/index.html (accessed 2026-10-18).
- National Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Registry. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / ATSDR. https://www.cdc.gov/als/ (accessed 2026-10-18).