The number of people with dementia is rising globally.
The risk of developing dementia is higher for people of some ethnicities.
Much of the increase is due to the aging population, but some health conditions, such as hypertension, obesity, and diabetes, also increase the risk of dementia.
A new study has found that these “modifiable risk factors” increase dementia risk for Black and South Asian people more than white people.
The authors argue that dementia prevention efforts should be targeted toward people from minority ethnic groups and tailored to risk factors of particular importance.
However, these risk factors do not have the same effect on everyone. A new study carried out in the United Kingdom and published in PLOS OneTrusted Source, suggests that they increase dementia risk more in people of color than in white people.
“This finding is not entirely surprising, as it correlates with previous research which has also concluded the differential impact of certain risk factors on dementia amongst different ethnic groups. However, this study provides valuable empirical evidence to support these previous hypotheses.”
Slowing down and some memory changes are a normal part of aging, but dementia is not an inevitable consequence of getting older. Around two-thirds of older adults will not develop dementia.
Previous research has found that dementia is more common in some ethnicities than others, with higher rates found in Black and Hispanic than in white participants in a large-scale studyTrusted Source in the United States. However, this study did not explain why the rates were higher.
This latest study could go some way toward explaining the differences, as it has found that some of these modifiable risk factors affect different ethnicities more.
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