Association Between Enrollment Factors and Incident Cognitive Impairment in Blacks and Whites: Data From the Alzheimer’s Disease Center

Researchers looked at how enrollment factors made a difference, broken out by race, on the progression of mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Using Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center data, they examined the rate of impairment between whites and Blacks with age-at-progression survival models. Models included race, sex, education, source of recruitment, health factors, and family history of dementia. The analysis of over 12,000 white participants and Black participants shows that in those with baseline mild cognitive impairment, white participants showed greater risk for progression than Black participants. However, these findings are contrary to literature showing that Black participants have a faster rate of progression. The researchers suggest that their progression risk estimates may be attributable to selection factors differing by race. They also note that using Alzheimer’s Disease Center data sets to make racial comparisons could be problematic.

Gleason CE, et al. Association between enrollment factors and incident cognitive impairment in Blacks and whites: Data from the Alzheimer's Disease Center. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2019;15(12):1533-1545. doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2019.07.015.