Dementia Incidence Varies by Race, Ethnicity

THURSDAY, April 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- There are significant differences in dementia incidence among U.S. veterans based on race and ethnicity, according to a study published in the April 19 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Erica Kornblith, Ph.D., from San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, and colleagues examined dementia incidence across five racial and ethnic groups and by geographical region within a large, diverse, national cohort of just under 1.87 million older U.S. veterans (aged 55 years or older).

The researchers found that during a mean of 10.1 years of follow-up, 13 percent of veterans received a diagnosis of dementia. The age-adjusted incidence of dementia was 14.2 per 1,000 person-years for American Indian or Alaska Native participants, 12.4 for Asian participants, 19.4 for Black participants, 20.7 for Hispanic participants, and 11.5 for White participants. In models adjusting for education and underlying comorbidities, the risk trended higher for non-Whites (American Indian or Alaska Native: adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.05; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.98 to 1.13; Asian: aHR, 1.20; 95 percent CI, 1.13 to 1.28; Black: aHR, 1.54; 95 percent CI, 1.51 to 1.57; Hispanic: aHR, 1.92; 95 percent CI, 1.82 to 2.02). Age-adjusted dementia incidence rates were highest for Black and Hispanic participants across most U.S. regions.

"These results are consistent with the findings of several prior studies among populations not receiving Veterans Health Administration care," the authors write.

One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry.

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