According to a recent study led by scholars at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, racial disparities in dementia among Black Latin Americans are linked to modifiable social factors, rather than genetic ancestry.
Latin America has a very diverse population with a large variety of citizens from either Native American, European, or African heritage. Considering dementia is found more frequently among Native American and African descendants, the authors sought out to determine if these racial disparities were a result of unchangeable genetic factors or persistent socioeconomic disparities.
The research team analyzed data from over 3,800 Latin Americans over the age of 65 who were predominately from African, Native American, or European backgrounds. Among the participants, 54.9 percent of African descendants showed some kind of cognitive impairment, compared to 47.8 percent of European and 52.7 percent of Native American descendants. The authors then adjusted their results based on social factors, such as education, socioeconomic status, and cardiovascular health, and found no association between genetics and cognitive impairment.
“The findings suggest that social and environmental factors play a more crucial role than genetic ancestry in predicting dementia prevalence in Latin American populations,” write the authors. “This underscores the need for public health strategies and policies that address these social determinants to effectively reduce dementia risk in these communities.”
