Published Jun 11, 2026 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jun 11, 2026 | 7:00 AM
Among those classified as high risk, 55 percent were women and 45 percent were men.
Synopsis: Nearly four in 10 adults aged 40 to 80 years in Telangana are at high risk of developing dementia, according to a study by researchers at the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, which found that rural adults were more than twice as likely as urban adults to be classified as high risk. The study found higher rates of vitamin deficiencies and poorer diets among those at elevated risk.
Nearly four in 10 adults aged 40 to 80 years in Telangana are at high risk of developing dementia, according to a study by researchers at the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad.
The findings, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia, indicate a significantly higher burden of risk among rural populations, where six in 10 adults were classified as high risk.
The study found that 60 percent of rural adults fell into the high-risk category, compared with 27 percent of urban adults. Researchers noted that rural participants were generally older, had higher rates of hypertension, and lower levels of education. About 83 percent of rural participants had eight years of education or less, compared with 11.5 percent in urban areas.
Although rural populations had lower obesity rates and reported higher levels of physical activity—factors generally associated with better cognitive health—they continued to exhibit substantially higher dementia risk. “These protective factors did not offset the dementia risks,” the authors wrote.
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The study was conducted between May 2023 and May 2024 and involved 556 adults recruited from four regions of Telangana. To estimate future dementia risk, the team used a modified version of the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Dementia (CAIDE) score, which assesses factors such as age, education, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, body mass index (BMI), and physical activity.
Rather than relying on thresholds developed for Western populations, the researchers adapted the model using India-specific cut-offs.
“Conducting dementia research in India presents unique challenges, particularly the adaptation of dementia risk assessment tools to the sociocultural context, as most prior studies were designed for literate, Western populations,” the authors wrote.
The study also demonstrated how the choice of measurement standards can influence risk estimates. When the researchers applied the World Health Organization’s Asian BMI cut-offs instead of conventional thresholds, the proportion of participants classified as high risk increased from 39 percent to 56 percent.
The authors said the findings underscore the importance of developing context-specific tools for assessing dementia risk in India and highlight the need for further investigation into the factors contributing to the elevated risk observed in rural populations.
The researchers also pointed to the prevalence of nutritional deficiencies in rural areas as a possible contributing factor.
“Subclinical vitamin deficiencies were significantly more prevalent among the rural population, emphasising the need for further investigation into their independent association with dementia risk,” they said.
Vitamin B2 deficiency was the most common, affecting 64 percent of participants. It was followed by vitamin D deficiency (42 percent), vitamin B6 deficiency (34 percent), active vitamin B12 deficiency (17 percent), folate deficiency (8 percent), and vitamin B1 deficiency (3 percent).
The study found that participants classified as high risk of dementia had greater deficiencies in vitamins D, B2, B6, and folate. Researchers also observed that dementia risk scores increased as vitamin levels declined.
“These vitamins play critical roles in homocysteine metabolism, neuronal function, and glucose metabolism, and their deficiencies have been linked to cognitive decline and dementia,” the authors wrote.
Among the nutrients examined, vitamin D showed an independent association with higher dementia risk even after accounting for factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
“Vitamin D has been associated with reduced neuroinflammation and amyloid-β clearance, and levels up to 25 ng/ml appear protective,” the researchers noted.
Dietary assessments were conducted among 247 participants and revealed notable differences between individuals classified as high risk and those considered low risk for dementia.
Participants in the high-risk group consumed lower quantities of dairy products, nuts, seeds, and vegetables, while reporting higher consumption of bakery products and processed foods. Their intake of riboflavin, folate, calcium, selenium, iron, zinc, and potassium was also lower than that of participants in the low-risk group. Saturated fat intake, meanwhile, was higher among those at elevated risk.
“Our study adopts a cumulative approach, exploring how multiple micronutrients together influence dementia risk factor burden,” the authors wrote.
“This integrative analysis provides new insights into which vitamin deficiencies correlate with dementia risk factor burden in the rural-urban Indian context and could inform targeted nutritional interventions.”
The study also found that women accounted for a larger share of participants in the high-risk category. Among those classified as high risk, 55 percent were women and 45 percent were men.
The finding contrasts with the original CAIDE model, which assigns women a score of zero in its risk assessment framework.
“Although the original model allotted a score of zero for women, in this study, female participants exhibited a higher risk for dementia,” the authors wrote.
“This highlights the need to reconsider and possibly modify the gender scoring in light of contemporary data.”
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With India estimated to have had 88 lakh people living with dementia in 2023 and no disease-modifying treatment available at scale, the researchers said the findings underscore the importance of addressing modifiable risk factors through public health interventions.
“Policy reforms are urgently needed to allocate healthcare resources for the population-level early screening of individuals at risk of dementia, particularly in India,” the authors wrote.
“Preventive efforts should focus on early interventions and the lifelong maintenance of favourable risk profiles. People at increased risk of dementia are also likely to have additional modifiable factors, including smoking, LDL cholesterol levels, dietary intake, and specific subclinical micronutrient profiles, which could be considered while planning preventive interventions.”
