The doctors have also revealed that despite dementia being a female-dominated disease with a 4:1 ratio, more men are brought for treatment to hospitals in the country.
In a breakthrough study done by researchers from India, it has been confirmed that diabetes and hypertension together can cause dementia. The research was done through age-mapping on a sample size of 256 people by the doctors from the Society for Alzheimer's and Ageing Research, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. The doctors have also revealed that despite dementia being a female-dominated disease with a 4:1 ratio, more men are brought for treatment to hospitals in the country.
The research is done on the size of 'hippocampus', a little-finger sized organ located right beneath the temporal lobe, responsible for memory and spatial navigation (eg memory used to navigate around a city, etc). When a person suffers from diabetes and hypertension, depression or seizures, his hippocampus size shrinks affecting his ability to remember things.
"Dementia starts two-three decades before it is actually revealed. With the help of age-mapping, we were able to see the changes in the size of Hippocampus. The healthy controls had a larger Hippocampus as compared to people with Diabetes and Hypertension. The is the first time in India that the hippocampal volume data was generated," said Dr Vikas Dhikav, General Secretary and the Lead Researcher, Society for Alzheimer's and Ageing Research, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
A sample size of 256, all from Delhi hospitals, was taken for the research and 226 were proven Alzheimer's patients while 30 were healthy controls i.e. free from any of the conditions, thus a reference was generated. The size of a healthy male hippocampus is between 2.7±0.5 cubic centimeters and with this the other patient's organ sizes were compared. Of the 256, only 10 per cent were females. The age-group for all the subjects was between 60 and 85.
Once shrunk, it is not known whether the hippocampus can go back to its original shape. But doctors say that with controlled diabetes and hypertension, over a period of five years at least, there is a possibility that Hippocampal atrophy can reverse.
SAMPLE SIZE
- A sample size of 256, all from Delhi hospitals, was taken for the research and 226 were proven Alzheimer’s patients while 30 were healthy controls i.e. free from any of the conditions, thus a reference was generated.
- The age-group for all the subjects was between 60 and 85.
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