Page 20 - Healthy Brain Initiative, State and Local Public Health Partnerships to Address Dementia: The 2018-2023 Road Map

SPOTLIGHT

DISPARITIES BY RACE/ETHNICITY AND GENDER

Disparities in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s and Missed diagnoses of dementia are more common
other dementias are most prominent among African among African Americans than whites. While
Americans, Hispanics, and women. African Americans are two times more likely to have
Alzheimer’s or another dementia than whites, they are
African Americans and Hispanics only 36% more likely to receive a diagnosis. Also,
17
» One in seven African Americans aged 45 and older both African Americans and Hispanics with cognitive
have subjective cognitive decline. 16 impairment are less likely than whites to say that a
doctor has told them they have a “memory-related
» Older African Americans are about two times more disease.” 18
likely than older whites to have Alzheimer’s or other
dementias. 1 Women

» Older Hispanics are about one and one-half times » Almost two-thirds of older Americans with
more likely than older whites to have Alzheimer’s or Alzheimer’s dementia are women. 1
other dementias. 1 » Among those aged 71 and older, 16% of women
Variations in health, lifestyle, and socioeconomics likely have Alzheimer’s or other dementias, compared
account for most of the difference in risk by race and with 11% of men. 19
ethnicity. High blood pressure and diabetes, which are » At age 65, women without Alzheimer’s have more
risk factors for dementia, are more prevalent in African than a one in five chance of developing Alzheimer’s
American and Hispanic populations than in whites. dementia during the remainder of their lives,
Lower levels of education and greater levels of other compared with a one in nine chance for men. 20
socioeconomic characteristics and risk factors (such
as poverty, adversity in early life, and access to quality These disparities may be primarily explained by the
care) among some racial and ethnic minorities may fact that women live longer, on average, than men.
also contribute to increased risk. In addition, African However, researchers are increasingly questioning
Americans with subjective cognitive decline often have whether there may be other reasons for the difference
other health challenges that may complicate care, such in the number of women compared with men who
as physical inactivity, tobacco use, and living alone. 1 develop the disease. •

14 Healthy Brain Initiative State and Local Public Health Partnerships to Address Dementia: The 2018–2023 Road Map