Ethnicity may affect dementia risk

There appears to be important ethnic differences in dementia incidence, as reported in a study.

Researchers conducted a systematic review of population-based studies comparing incidence or prevalence of dementia after accounting for age of at least two ethnic groups in adults aged ≥18 years. A total of 19 studies were included in the meta-analysis; 12 of these were cohort studies and seven were cross-sectional. Thirteen studies were from the US, two from the UK, two each from Singapore and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China.

Study populations ranged from 1,092 to 2,511,681 individuals, with mean baseline age ranges of 62 to 93 years. Dementia was diagnosed using clinical examinations and neurocognitive tests in all studies but ascertained using electronic health records in four studies.

The pooled risk ratio for dementia incidence comparing Black and White ethnic groups was 1.33 (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.07–1.65; I², 58.0 percent), whereas that comparing the Asian and White ethnic groups was 0.86 (95 percent CI, 0.728–1.01; I², 43.9 percent).

There was no difference in the incidence of dementia for Latino ethnic group compared to the White ethnic group.

Additional high-quality research studies from a range of global settings are needed to establish when and how ethnic differences in dementia incidence and prevalence arise. Future studies should also look at secular trends in ethnic inequalities in dementia over time and improve representation of people from ethnic minority groups in research and trials.