NIA Discovers Health Disparities In Alzheimer’s Research Studies 

According to the National Institute on Aging, data analytics showed that Black participants in Alzheimer’s disease research studies were 35 percent less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and related dementias than White participants, highlighting health disparities.  

The data indicates these findings despite national statistics showing that Black Americans are overall twice as likely to develop dementia than White.  

Data analysis on the study participants across NIA’s network of Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) also indicates that Black patients with Alzheimer’s and related dementias had more risk factors, cognitive impairment, symptom severity.  

According to previous studies, Black Americans are roughly 1.5 to 2 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s and related dementias. However, NIA researchers decided to investigate further related racial differences in cognitive, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and functional abilities in diagnosed study participants. 

“The researchers tracked 15 years of data (2005-2020) on 5,700 Black and 31,225 white participants using the Uniform Data Set of the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC), which aggregates data from ADRCs from across the country,” according to the press release. 

“At baseline visits, the data showed that 26.8% of Black participants were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or related dementias, as opposed to 36.1% of white participants. The analysis also showed that Black participants had 35% lower odds of having an Alzheimer’s or dementia diagnosis at the initial visit relative to white participants.” 

Additionally, researchers found that neuropsychiatric symptoms were more likely to occur in diagnosed Black patients than in White patients. After considering demographic factors and social determinants of health, Black participants were also twice as likely to experience delusions and hallucinations.  

“Black participants were also more likely to have other symptoms, including agitation/aggression, loss of inhibition, irritability, motor disturbances, and abnormal sleep, behavioral, and appetite/eating changes. Black and white participants did not show significant differences in affective or anxiety symptoms, or apathy and indifference, other symptoms of Alzheimer’s and related dementias,” the press release stated.  

Researchers see their results as further evidence that Black patients often must present with more severe clinical symptoms to receive a diagnosis. These findings are consistent with previous studies.  

The team is not yet clear on the reasons behind their findings, but they suspect a referral bias could partly explain differences in diagnostic thresholds. According to the researchers, the data supports further evidence for addressing racial disparities in Alzheimer’s disease.  

Moving forward, the team hopes to expand their research to include other underrepresented groups.