New Delhi: Indian adults’ risk of dementia is influenced by their diets, education levels, vision and hearing loss, and even their lack of physical activity.
Researchers from Rutgers University in the US recently published a comprehensive review of all dementia risk research in Indians from 2000 to 2025, to understand how neurodegenerative disorders impact Indian populations and the different factors that contribute to it. Published in the Alzheimer’s & Dementia Journal on 1 June, the study said that even though India’s ageing population faces a “dementia burden”, data on what its risk factors actually are is still quite limited.
“An increasing body of evidence indicates that risk factors for dementia in South Asians differ from those in non-Hispanic White and European ancestry populations,” said Akankshi Oberoi, a researcher at Rutgers University and lead author of the study.
The study did not conduct primary research of its own, but instead reviewed existing research from India and on Indian populations to compare how dementia risk in South Asia differs from that in Europe or the US.
Latest estimates suggest that over 88 lakh Indians suffer from dementia; yet there has never been a nationwide study to determine how exactly this neurodegenerative disease affects them. By 2050, one study predicts, over 1.1 crore Indians will be dementia patients.
Global research has established the role of culture and context in dementia, but scientists are still unaware of how it works in the Indian context.
This is where Rutgers University’s study fits in; it is part of their background research for the South Asian Middle Age Risk Tracking for brain Health (SAMARTH) project, which was started in March 2026 by the university. SAMARTH is the first research initiative in the US that is meant to track the brain health of South Asian Americans.
As part of SAMARTH, the university is recruiting individuals aged 45 to 70 to study their brains through surveys, cognitive assessments, language assessments, and motor function tasks, as well as through brain imaging over the course of a few years.
“South Asians are underrepresented in Alzheimer’s research, meaning there is a lack of tailored information and treatment options for them,” said Schnaider Beeri, one of the authors of the study. “The SAMARTH study could lead to personalised treatments, early diagnostic tools, and prevention strategies specifically designed for South Asians.”
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What are South Asian-specific risk factors?
According to the Rutgers University study, certain dementia risk factors are much higher in South Asians as compared to the rest of the world, such as education levels. The study found that low educational attainment accounts for 22 per cent of dementia risk in Indians, as compared to 8 per cent worldwide.
There are also other biological factors such as hearing loss and vision loss — 3 in 4 Indian adults over the age of 50 have vision loss problems, which is a much higher number than US adults in the same age group. The study explained that vision loss, especially untreated, accounted for 14 per cent of dementia cases in India.
Moreover, while in the US, obesity is considered a risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer’s, in India the opposite is also true, since undernourishment and malnutrition also increase the risk of dementia in Indian populations.
There were some similarities in dementia risk in India and globally, such as the prevalence of dementia in women over men. However, the study concluded that the genetic factors that might influence dementia in Europe and the US might not match with those that influence it in India and South Asia, meaning that more research needs to be done on the risk and treatment options for dementia at local levels.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)