New York, Feb 15 (IANS) Men who’ve had a sterilisation surgery may face increased risk of developing a certain form of dementia, a disorder characterised by a general loss of intellectual abilities.

Researchers in Illinois say such men may develop a neurological condition called primary progressive aphasia, or PPA, reported the health portal News Medical.

Led by Sandra Weintraub at Northwestern University, the study surveyed 47 men between the ages of 55 and 80 with PPA, a rare type of dementia, being treated at Northwestern’s Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center.

They also studied 57 men who did not have the disorder. The researchers found that of those with primary progressive aphasia, 40 percent had undergone a vasectomy, compared to 16 percent of the others.

Those with PPA had developed the condition an average of four years earlier than the others.

The researchers say preliminary data also linked vasectomies to another form of dementia involving behavioural changes — where it was found that among 30 men with frontotemporal dementia more than a third had undergone a vasectomy.

Weintraub recognises that the research involved a small number of people but says a larger national study is planned in order to establish whether the findings hold up.