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Using SDOH Data to Boost Population Health Management in Alzheimer’s
Early results from an Alzheimer’s study using demographic and SDOH data guides population health management and health disparities work.
The Institute for Translational Research at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth is providing scientists with early demographic and social determinants of health (SDOH) data to help them understand the biology of Alzheimer’s disease. The boost in data quality will assist providers in improving population health management for diverse communities and eliminate health disparities.
The demographic data comes from the Health and Aging Brain among Latino Elders (HABLE) study launched in 2017. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and headed by Sid O'Bryant, PhD, executive director of the Institute.
"The data from this study is a first-of-a-kind for the field," O'Bryant said in a press release. "We will for the first time be able to examine the biology of Alzheimer's among Mexican Americans as well as non-Hispanic whites all within the context of sociocultural, environmental and behavioral factors. Scientists from across the globe can use this data to address health disparities and define new diagnostic and treatment opportunities for underserved communities."
According to the data, the percentage of Hispanic people over age 65 living in the United States is expected to triple by 2050. When compared to other races and ethnic groups, Hispanic people are also predicted to see the largest increase in Alzheimer’s disease related to dementias by 2060. Approximately 65 percent of Hispanic people in the US are of Mexican decent.
However, demographic data of Mexican Americans is severely underrepresented in Alzheimer’s research. This results in little information regarding the biomarkers present in this population.
“Early findings suggest that beta amyloid protein -- one of the biomarkers of Alzheimer's -- is less common among Mexican Americans yet Mexican Americans seem to have a younger onset of cognitive loss,” the University of North Texas Health Science Center wrote in a press release.
About 1,000 Mexican Americans and 1,000 non-Latino White people over age 50 have enrolled in the study. The study gives its participants reoccurring and comprehensive interviews, function exams, clinical laboratory tests, brain MRIs, and PET scans.
Through PET scans, researchers are about to see the differences over time in the development of biomarkers between Mexican Americans and non-Latino Whites.
In December, the Institute for Translational Research at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth announced they would be added 1000 African Americans enroll in the study.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Black people have the highest rate of Alzheimer’s disease, followed by Hispanic people and non-Latino Whites.
This project is the only large-scale Alzheimer’s research study of its kind that is studying three different ethnic groups in the US, the researchers said.
