Growing -- and Aging -- Hispanic Population at Risk for Dementia

A study in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease suggests Hispanics with dementia are more likely to experience cerebrovascular disease than whites and African Americans, reports Medical Xpress . Postmortem brain tissue analysis of people diagnosed with dementia — including 28 Hispanic, 35 black, and 360 white — revealed stark differences. Both Alzheimer's and cerebrovascular disease was identified in 37 percent of whites and blacks, but 54 percent of Hispanics. Meanwhile, cerebrovascular disease only was found in 4 percent of whites, 11 percent of blacks, and 21 percent of Hispanics. In addition, Alzheimer's only was detected in 43 percent of whites and blacks, but just 14 percent of Hispanics. "It seems clear that Latinos have significantly less Alzheimer's pathology and significantly more cerebrovascular pathology," said University of California, Davis Professor Charles DeCarli. Loyola University's José Biller acknowledged the increased likelihood of cerebrovascular disease in Hispanics may be linked to the higher incidence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity — risk factors for cognitive decline — in this same ethnic group. "If we engage the people of color in the United States to better manage their vascular risk factors through things like exercise, better diet, and medication, I think not only will we get rid of the disparity between the populations in the prevalence of dementia, but we might actually reduce the incidence," DeCarli suggested.