Alzheimer's Disease Survival Varies by Race
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Latino and African American patients with Alzheimer's disease seem to live longer than their white counterparts, according to a new study.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Latino and African American patients with Alzheimer's disease seem to live longer than their white counterparts, according to the results of a study involving patients seen at 30 Alzheimer's disease centers in the United States.
"These findings were not explained by patient age, sex, educational level, marital status, living situation, and cognitive test score measured at their first evaluation at the Alzheimer's disease center," the researchers note in an online issue of Neurology.
"It's not clear why Latinos and African Americans have an advantage when it comes to living longer with Alzheimer's disease," first author Dr. Kala M. Mehta, of the University of California, San Francisco, said in a statement. "Possible explanations may be underlying genetic or cultural factors."
Of the 30,916 men and women with Alzheimer's disease in the study, 81 percent were white, 12 percent were African American, 4 percent were Latino, 1.5 percent were Asian and 0.5 percent were American Indian.
The subjects were followed for an average of 2.4 years and survived for an average of 4.8 years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Autopsies were performed on 3,000 of the participants.
Compared with white patients, the mortality risk was 15 percent lower in Latinos and 43 percent lower in African Americans, Mehta and colleagues report. Asians and American Indians had a mortality risk that was similar to that of white Alzheimer's patients.
Among patients with similar disease severity, the autopsy results showed that the brains of African American and Latino patients had disease characteristics comparable to those of white patients, the investigators note.
"Determining the underlying factors behind this difference could lead to longer survival for everyone with Alzheimer's disease," Mehta stated.
"Regardless of the reason for this difference, these findings may have implications for health care planning for people with Alzheimer's disease," she added.
Source: Neurology, November 14, 2007.
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