A review of dementia research highlights unequal healthcare outcomes for Black and Hispanic people in the US
By Marilyn Perkins
30 January 2024
Older Black people in the US are twice as likely to develop dementia as white people are
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In the US, people of colour receive worse treatment than white people at every stage of dementia care, from diagnosis to end-of-life treatment, according to an analysis of dozens of studies.
Dementia-causing conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, are one of the leading causes of death in the US, and older Black people in the US are twice as likely to be impacted as whites. As people in the US live longer, with the risk of dementia roughly doubling every five years they age, more people of colour than ever will be living with dementia and cognitive impairment.
“Access to good-quality care for people living with dementia is essential to achieve equity,” says Ladson Hinton at the University of California, Davis.
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Hinton and his colleagues reviewed 71 studies published over the past two decades to gain a clearer picture of how racial and ethnic disparities impact dementia care. The team found key differences in diagnosis, medication use and end-of-life treatment.
Every study that analysed diagnosis showed lagging diagnosis times for Black and Hispanic people with dementia. A recent comprehensive study revealed that the waiting time was 11 per cent longer for Black people and 40 per cent longer for Hispanics compared with white people.