Dr Kameshwar Prasad, who is leading the exercise, told TOI that the idea is to track the health profile and lifestyle of individuals to see how and why certain people develop stroke and dementia — two common neurological disorders.
“Earlier research shows that high blood pressure, smoking and obesity are key risk factors for developing these diseases. But we want to do it locally and at a larger scale to identify new factors which can make the treatment more precise,” he said.
The project is called the AIIMS Cohort Study (ACS), which is being carried out in lines of the Precision Medicine Initiative by the former US President Barack Obama and the Framingham Study. The idea is to move beyond “one-size-fits-all” approach and develop precision medicine that takes into account individual differences in genes, environment and lifestyles, an official said.
It is important because there is an emerging evidence of environment playing an important role in rising incidence of stroke — like through air pollution.
The initial findings in Vasant Kunj reveal that 70% of the study population suffered from high blood pressure and 40% were diabetic. “More than 40% men interviewed are smokers. It is a major risk factor for stroke and affects memory as well,” Dr Prasad, professor and head of neurology at AIIMS, said, adding that before these people were approached, many of them were unaware that they were suffering from hypertension and diabetes.
The project took off in 2016 and till date, doctors have analysed the blood pressure of over 7,000 participants who were above 50 years. Blood of 5,445 participants and saliva samples of 1,000 have been stored in Cohort biobank. Serum and plasma samples are stored at 80 degrees Celsius for future bloodbased biomarker assays. DNA isolation of 16 samples is being done daily on a working day. For this, the institute has a facility of 10 rooms where participants’ blood samples and other vitals are collected, stored and studied.
Stroke happens when blood supply to a part of the brain is cut off, either due to blockage in supply or leakage of blood from a burst vessel in brain (haemorrhagic stroke). Dementia, on the other hand, is not a specific disease. It’s an overall term that describes a group of symptoms associated with a decline in memory or other thinking skills severe enough to reduce a person’s ability to perform daily activities —alzheimer’s accounts for 60%-80% of these cases.
There has been a significant increase in stroke cases in the country, which cannot be explained by unhealthy lifestyle and other identified factors alone. “The role of pollution is also being studied,” Dr Prasad said. He also stressed on the need to expand the project countrywide for better outcome. The UK, for example, is carrying out a similar study in 22 centres and on five lakh people.