More than 10 million older adults aged 60 or over in India may have dementia, comparable to the prevalence rates for countries such as the US and the UK, according to a first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence study. The research was published in the journal Neuroepidemiology and , used an AI technique known as semi-supervised machine learning to analyse data from 31,477 older adults. According to the study, 10. 08 million senior citizens in India, or 8. 44 percent of all persons aged 60 or over, may have dementia. This compares to prevalence rates recorded in similar age groups of 8. 8 per cent in the US, 9 per cent in the UK and between 8. 5 and 9 per cent in Germany and France, researchers said. TRENDING STORIES See All Premium Global Market: Wall Street sinks on jitters about banks . . . Premium Yellen says bank system remains resilient in wake of SV . . . Premium Delhi collected ₹31,462. 62 crore in taxes till Feb of . . . Premium US throws Pak a $82 million lifeline, and a word of adv . . . The researcher also found that, the prevalence of dementia was greater for those who were older, were females and received no education, and lived in rural areas. Haomiao Jin, co-author of the study and Lecturer in Health Data Sciences at the University of Surrey, UK said, "Our research was based on the first and only nationally representative aging study in India with more than 30,000 participating older adults in the country. " Jin further said, "AI has a unique strength in interpreting large and complex data like this, and our research found that the prevalence of dementia may be higher than prior estimates from local samples. " As per CDC, Dementia is not a specific disease but is rather a general term for the impaired ability to remember, think, or make decisions that interferes with doing everyday activities. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. Though dementia mostly affects older adults, it is not a part of normal aging. WHO has also stated dementia as the seventh leading cause of death among all diseases and one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people globally. The agency also stated that different forms of dementia, but Alzheimer's disease is the most common form and may contribute to 60-70 percent of cases. Other major forms also include vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies (people with this form of dementia may have movement or balance problems like stiffness or trembling), Fronto-temporal dementia which leads to changes in personality and behavior because of the part of the brain it affects. Speaking of the AI study, the research team from the University of Surrey, University of Southern California, University of Michigan, both in the US, and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi developed an AI learning model. The model was trained on data, which consisted of 70 percent labelled dataset with dementia diagnoses from a novel online consensus while remaining 30 per cent was reserved as a test set to assess the AI's predictive accuracy. The AI taught itself to predict dementia status for unlabelled observations without dementia diagnoses in the dataset, it stated. Professor Adrian Hilton, Director of the University of Surrey's Institute for People-Centered AI, said that, "As we are seeing with this research, AI has a huge potential to discover patterns in complex data, improving our understanding of how diseases impact people across very different communities to support the development of precision medical interventions to save lives. " Signs and symptoms of dementia As per WHO, the early stage of dementia is often overlooked because the onset is gradual. Common symptoms may include: forgetfulness, losing track of the time, becoming lost in familiar places. MORE FROM THIS SECTION See All Premium Premium Haryana records 10 cases, 1 death from H3N2; health min . . . Premium Premium Soy sauce, processed food adding to increased salt inta . . . Premium Premium NASA warns about asteroid approaching Earth, may impact . . . Premium Premium '37 lesions, chocolate cyst': Bindi Irwin on 10-year ba . . . As it progresses, these symptoms may inlcude: becoming forgetful of recent events and people's names, becoming confused while at home, having increasing difficulty with communication, needing help with personal care, experiencing behaviour changes and including wandering and repeated questioning. As per WHO, the late stage of dementia is one of near total dependence and inactivity and can include unaware of the time and place, having difficulty recognizing relatives and friends, having an increasing need for assisted self-care, having difficulty walking, experiencing behaviour changes that may escalate and include aggression. Treatment for dementia Currently, there are no treatment available to cure dementia. WHO states that anti-dementia medicines and disease-modifying therapies developed to date have limited efficacy and are primarily labeled for Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, much can be offered to support and improve the lives of people with dementia and their carers and families. (With inputs from ANI) Catch all the Business News , Market News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates. More Less OPEN IN APP.