Dementia: 9 million older Indians suffer from dementia: study | India News
This figure is significantly higher than previous estimates, which put the prevalence at 3.7 million in 2010 and predicted it would double by 2030. However, the new findings suggest the number doubled a decade earlier, highlighting the urgent need for better care and support for people living with this condition.
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The prevalence of dementia in J&K is the highest in the country at 11%. While most of the samples were taken from Kashmir, experts believe it is possible to carry out a more detailed study to assess whether the region’s decades-long political turmoil played a role. In contrast, Delhi showed the lowest prevalence at 4.5%, with neighboring Haryana having a prevalence of 5.8%. Other states with worrying prevalence include Odisha and West Bengal at 9.9% and 9.2%, respectively. Maharashtra has also been identified as one of 11 states where the prevalence of dementia is above the national average.
The study, led by researchers from the University of Southern California and AIIMS-Delhi, in collaboration with 18 other institutes including JJ Hospital in Mumbai, found wide variations in the presence of dementia between different states, gender and geographic locations. It was published in Alzheimer’s & dementia: the journal of the Alzheimer’s Association in January.
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“In 2010, the Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India estimated that 3.7 million Indians had dementia and predicted that this number would double by 2030.5 Our results suggest this may have been an underestimate. The number doubled a decade earlier, reaching 8.8 million in 2019. Therefore, the need to scale up dementia prevention and management policies in India is urgent,” the researchers noted, adding that they found significant heterogeneity across states. “This means that the burden of dementia cases is unevenly distributed among states and requires different levels of local planning and support.”
Dementia was found to be almost double in women (9%) than in men (5.8%), which experts have often linked to differences in early life education and nutrition. The prevalence was also higher in rural areas at 8.4% than in urban areas (5.3%), highlighting the urgent need to intensify diagnosis in rural health facilities.
Additionally, low educational attainment was associated with an increased risk of dementia. The estimated prevalence was 10% among those with no education, compared to 4.5% among those with primary education and 1.5% among those who went to class VIII and above.
“Different levels of education across states could also contribute to state differences in various dementia risk factors, such as undernutrition and exposure to indoor air pollution,” the researchers noted, calling for more localized policies to tackle the disorder.
“This is the largest cognitive aging study in the world where globally used scientific tools have been deployed to show that dementia affects almost all regions and that India needs to redouble its efforts to empowering all health systems to tackle it,” said Dr Aparajit Ballav. Dey, former project manager with the department of geriatric medicine at AIIMS-Delhi.