How dementia risk varies among ethnic groups

  • A very large U.S. study looking at ethnic differences in dementia risk, has found that African-Americans show the highest rates of dementia, followed by blacks and American Indian/Alaska Natives, then Latinos and whites, with Asian-Americans having the lowest rates.

A study involving 14 years of health records from more than 274,000 Northern Californians has assessed the relative dementia risk of six different ethnicities.

The average annual rate of dementia was:

  • 26.6 cases per 1,000 for blacks
  • 22.2 cases per 1,000 for American Indians/Alaskan Natives
  • 19.6 cases per 1,000 for Latinos and Pacific Islanders
  • 19.3 cases per 1,000 for whites
  • 15.2 cases per 1,000 for Asian Americans.

But this is an annual rate, not particularly useful at a practical level. How do these numbers convert to lifetime risk? Statistical calculations estimate that among those who reach age 65 dementia-free, the following percentages of each ethnicity will develop dementia in the next 25 years:

  • 38% of blacks
  • 35% of American Indians/Alaskan Natives
  • 32% of Latinos
  • 30% of whites
  • 28% of Asian Americans
  • 25% of Pacific Islanders (this is probably the least reliable number, given the small number of Pacific Islanders in the sample).

The study population included 18,778 African-Americans, 4543 American Indians/Alaskan Natives, 21,000 Latinos, 206,490 white Americans, 23,032 Asian-Americans, and 440 Pacific Islanders.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/kp-lsf021016.php

Reference: 

[4056] Mayeda, E. Rose, M. Glymour M., Quesenberry C. P., & Whitmer R. A.
(2016).  Inequalities in dementia incidence between six racial and ethnic groups over 14 years.
Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

Related News

Data from 848 adults of all ages has found that brain volume in the default mode network declined in both healthy and pathological aging, but the greatest decline occurred in Alzheimer’s patients and in those who progressed from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease.

New research supports the classification system for preclinical Alzheimer’s proposed two years ago. The classification system divides preclinical Alzheimer's into three stages:

Initial findings from an analysis of cerebrospinal fluid taken between 1995 and 2005 from 265 middle-aged healthy volunteers, of whom 75% had a close family m

Cognitive testing for dementia has a problem in that low scores on some tests may simply reflect a person's weakness in some cognitive areas, or the presence of a relatively benign form of mild cognitive impairment (one that is not going to progress to dementia).

A French study has predicted with 90% accuracy which patients with mild cognitive impairment would receive a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease within the following two years.

Studies linking head trauma with increased risk and earlier age of onset for Alzheimer's disease have yielded contradictory results.

A five-year study involving 525 older adults (70+) found 46 had Alzheimer’s or aMCI and a further 28 went on to develop the conditions.

A three-year study involving 152 adults aged 50 and older, of whom 52 had been recently diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment and 31 were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, has found that those with mild or no cognitive impairment who initially had amyloid-beta plaques showed greater cogniti

More evidence for early changes in the eye in Alzheimer’s disease comes from a study involving both rats and postmortem human retinas.

Analysis of 1,821 Alzheimer’s brains has found that 11% of them actually suffered from a variant called hippocampal sparing Alzheimer’s. This subtype has been neither well recognized nor treated appropriately, but is now revealed to be relatively common.

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news
Error | About memory

Error

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.