Design and methodology of the harmonized diagnostic assessment of dementia for the longitudinal aging study in India: Wave 2

Abstract

The rising burden of dementia calls for high-quality data on cognitive decline and dementia onset. The second wave of the Harmonized Diagnostic Assessment for the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI-DAD) was designed to provide longitudinal assessments of cognition and dementia in India. All Wave 1 participants were recruited for a follow-up interview, and a refresher sample was drawn from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India, a nationally representative cohort of Indians aged 45 and older. Respondents underwent a battery of cognitive tests, geriatric assessments, and venous blood collection. Their health and cognitive status were also assessed through an interview with a close family member or friend. Clinical consensus diagnosis was made based on the Clinical Dementia Rating®, and comprehensive data on risk factors of dementia were collected, including neurodegenerative biomarkers, sensory function, and environmental exposures. A total of 4635 participants were recruited between 2022 and 2024 from 22 states and union territories of India, accounting for 97.9% of the population in India. The response rate was 84.0%, and 71.5% of the participants provided venous blood specimen. LASI-DAD provides rich new data to study cognition, dementia, and their risk factors longitudinally in a nationally representative sample of older adults in India. Longitudinal cognitive data, together with longitudinally assessed biomarker data and novel data on sensory function and environmental exposures, provide a unique opportunity to establish associations between risk factors and biologically defined cognitive aging phenotypes.