Study suggests dementia risk factors have greater impact on minority ethnic groups

The most common risk factors for dementia appeared to have a greater impact on risk for people in minority ethnic groups, a study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) suggested. The study, published in the journal Plos One on Wed (Oct 11), found that modifiable risk factors—including hypertension, obesity, and diabetes among others had different impacts on dementia risk for different ethnic groups. It included 865,674 people with 8,479,973 person-years of follow-up.

"We used anonymised data from English electronic primary care records for adults aged 65 and older between 1997 and 2018," the study said.

The study suggestedthat not only were some risk factors more common in ethnic minorities, but they also hada greater impact on their risk of developing the disease compared with White people.

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The study showed that 12.6% of the study population developed dementia—16% of White people, 8.6% of South Asian people, 12.1% of Black people, and 9.7% of those from other ethnic groups.

"The impact of hypertension, obesity, diabetes, low HDL (high-density lipoprotein) and sleep disorders on dementia risk was increased in South Asian people compared to White people. The impact of hypertension was greater in Black compared to White people," the study said.

"Analyses using hypertension diagnosed prior to age 60, 55 and 50 all gave the same results as hypertension diagnosed before age 65," it added.

The study pointed out that dementia prevention efforts should be targeted towards people from minority ethnic groups and tailored to risk factors of particular importance.

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