• Increasing lifespan means that the incidence and prevalence of dementia in India is growing and is expected to rise dramatically in the coming decades.
• The Indian population currently has a very high burden of vascular risk factors, such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity, which can adversely impact the onset and progression of dementia.
• To identify risk and protective factors that contribute to dementia in India, longitudinal cohort studies need to be performed in urban and rural settings.
• These studies should include brain imaging, detailed genetic analysis and measurement of blood biomarkers, in addition to the use of well-adapted clinical and cognitive assessments.
• Evidence from studies performed outside of India indicate that dementia burden can be reduced through community-based, multimodal, early interventions, including dietary changes, increased physical activity and control of vascular risks; however, to be effective in India, interventions need to be adapted to the specific sociocultural milieu.
• Tools and data must be shared, both internationally and within the resource-constrained low-income and middle-income countries, to drive research towards better interventions to reduce the burden of dementia.

Activities which help reducing Dementia

Participating in mentally challenging leisure activities such as reading and playing board games may help elderly people stay mentally sharp. Researchers found that people aged 75 years or more who engaged in leisure activities had a lower risk of dementia than other elderly people. It is unclear whether increased participation in leisure activities lowers the risk of dementia or whether participation in such activities declines during the preclinical phase of dementia (New England Journal of Medicine 2003;348:2508-16). But not all activities seem to be equally effective in reducing the risk of dementia. People who reported often playing board games, reading, playing a musical instrument or doing crossword puzzles were less likely to develop dementia than people who said they engaged in those activities only rarely. However, writing and taking part in group discussions seemed to offer no protection against memory-robbing conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.