Which patients does the neurologist assist? Basis for a curriculum in neurology

OBJECTIVE: To present the most frequent diagnosis of patients referred to a neurologist and to discuss the importance of this finding for the definition of the curriculum in Neurology. BACKGROUND: The development of subespecialties of Neurology is interfering in the definition of what should be taught to train a physician or a neurologist. The knowledge of which are the most common neurological diseases may contribute to construct these curricula. METHOD: The initial diagnosis in 1815 outpatients referred to the neurologic service of an university-affiliate public hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, were analyzed. RESULTS: The most common diagnosis, in decreasing order of frequency, were: headache, epilepsy, mental disorders, cerebrovascular disease, head injury, polyneuropathy, vestibular syndrome, spastic crural paraparesis, extrapyramidal syndrome, dementia, intracranial hypertension and facial palsy. CONCLUSION: The importance of the subespecialties in the curriculum should be related to the frequency of the neurologic diseases in the community.