Comparative analysis of burden of topmost disorders requiring rehabilitation services: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Rehabilitation is an essential health service that should be available for all with health conditions affecting functioning in daily life. Initiatives for equitable distribution of scarce and limited rehabilitation resources are frequently guided by burden of diseases measures. Most studies on burden of diseases have laid greater emphasis on disability adjusted life years (DALYs) and rarely compared these burdens among conditions. This present study aims to systematically review and compare the burden of the top 10 GBD ranking of disorders.

Method: This review was pre-registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022316091). PubMed and Google Scholar were systematically searched as well as a manual search of grey literatures from 01/01/1990 to 29/02/2022. The results of this review were reported based on PRISMA guideline. Meta-analysis results were presented using forest plots and summary tables.

Results: A total of 11,367 studies were obtained from the searches, while the findings of 55 studies (17,753,434 participants) were reviewed. Majority of the studies were conducted in high-income-countries (56.1%) though, all the studies on neonatal disorders (100.0%) and congenital birth disorders (100.0%) came from the low-and-middle-income-countries. Neonatal disorders, stroke and ischaemic heart disease (IHD) topped the rank of disease burden. Overall, the burden of neurological disorders and their associated risk factors (aRFs), in terms of disease prevalence, were evaluated to be 36.75% while their mortality rate was 29.90%. Neurological conditions and aRFs accounted for 61.83% of total economic burden.

Conclusion: Neonatal disorders, stroke and IHD are the three most burdensome disorders. There is therefore need for greater focus of rehabilitation attention and resources in the coming decades.