Population Base Rates and Disease Course of Common Psychiatric and Neurodegenerative Disorders

Knowledge of population base rates of neurological and psychiatric disorders is fundamental for diagnostic decision making. Consideration of relevant probabilistic information can improve diagnostic efficiency and accuracy. However, such data continue to be misused or underutilized, which can lead to misdiagnoses and negative patient outcomes. The aim of the current review is to create an easily accessible and comprehensive reference of existing age of onset as well as prevalence and incidence data for common neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders in adults. Relevant epidemiological data were compiled from well-respected and frequently-cited textbooks and scholarly studies. Reviews were collected from PubMed, and publicly-available sources were gathered from Google Scholar. Results are organized and presented in several tables and a figure, which can be used as a diagnostic guide for students and clinicians across healthcare disciplines.