Given the growing concerns over age-related problems especially dementia, two premier institutions — Nimhans and IISc, have come together to launch a longitudinal study on brain ageing, in the state.
As dementia is quite significant in the elderly and the number of persons with dementia doubling every five years, the aim is to delay and if possible, prevent the disease.
To begin with, the institutions have zeroed in on Srinivaspur taluk in Kolar district, where a pilot study will be launched in the next three months.
Here, a population size of 10,000, comprising persons over 45 years of age, will be studied over a period of two to three decades to gain perspective on the longitudinal determinants of ageing process.
The study titled ‘Srinivaspur ageing and cognition study’ will be taken up jointly by the Nimhans Geriatric Services and Centre for Brain Research, Indian Institute of Science.
According to Nimhans Director B N Gangadhar, after the pilot study is launched, the research would be extended to other taluks of the district in a phased manner.
Kolar district has been the public health observatory of Nimhans over the last two to three years and hence Srinivaspur taluk in the district has been chosen.
Another reason is that population in the taluk is said to be more stable thanks to a lower rate of migrants and a good mix of both the urban and rural populace.
A research centre will be opened in the taluk.
The institutions which are in the process of getting the required approvals from the Centre, are also looking for a grant of Rs 20 crore to sustain the research study.
While Nimhans will focus on the clinical and imaging aspects, the Centre for Brain Research will focus on the genetic and molecular aspects. Prof Gangadhar said that most often dementia sets in after 65 years, but the risk factors begin at least 20 years prior to that.
Health and cognition of the focus group will be studied once every year for the next 20 or 30 years to establish a detailed evaluation and understand the risks involved. This will be one of the few studies on dementia taken up in the country.
Though All India Institute of Medical Science has recently started a longitudinal study on ageing, India is yet to draw up national dementia strategies like the USA or the United Kingdom.
There are nearly 104 million senior citizens in India of whom 53 million are females and 51 million males. And as per the estimation by Dementia India Report 2010, the number of persons with dementia will increase from 4.41 million in 2015 to 5.29 million in 2020.