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Where you live in terms of your risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists and medical researchers know that certain changes in old age and the brain increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. Now they are looking at what role the location will play.
One e-body of the research is to identify the counties and neighbors with widespread prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease, which affects 8.8 million people and affects the U.S. In the sixth cause of death, researchers in the field of aging are looking to find out if those places are common. Risk factors associated with Alzheimer’s and if any of these risk factors can be reduced.
These researchers have sorted out government and medical data to find higher and lower rates of Alzheimer’s disease. The data show, among other things, that the southeastern and Gulf Coast states, including Florida and Texas, are generally more widely concentrated than western states such as Colorado and Arizona.
Such research is in its infancy and many questions remain as to why the rate of Alzheimer’s disease may be higher in some places. No study claims that staying in a certain place causes Alzheimer’s, but researchers see this information as a potential helper in finding new ways to fight the disease.
Leading Alzheimer’s researcher at Duke University p. “We think of Alzheimer’s as a purely biological disease and ignore the social determinants of health,” says Murali Doraiswamy. Those determinants include access to income, education and health care and nutritious food. “This is an incredibly important area that we have forgotten.”
Two studies released earlier this year focused on location. One had a higher rate of Alzheimer’s among weaker neighbors and the other, especially looking at Ohio, had a higher rate compared to non-Ala Palacian rural countries in the Eclipse App Appalachia.
A report released this week from USAGainest Alzheimer’s and the Urban Institute identified 25 counties with the highest and lowest rates of Alzheimer’s disease for Blacks, Latinos and Whites, based on 2016 Medicare data.
The report focuses on these three groups as they have the highest prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease, with 13.8% blacks, 12.2% Latino and 10.3% whites diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or other dementia. The prevalence between Asian and Pacific Islanders, American Indians and Alaskan Natives is less than 10% for each group.
The report does not claim that location conditions cause Alzheimer’s disease, and questions remain about the role of social and economic inequality in health and dissatisfaction. Older blacks are probably twice as many ites, and older Latinos are 1.5 times as likely as Alzheimer’s to be older whites.
“This is a descriptive study,” says Jason Risendiz, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Center, a USAgeist at Brain Health Equity. “We are looking for examples that may exist and identify them.”
Medical experts and researchers on aging say the new location-focused study could help identify the gaps between where treatment and research are provided and where they are needed.
“The country is rapidly aging, and knowing where to put our resources can be really helpful,” says Jeffrey Wing, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University’s College of Public Health. Dr. Wing examined 11 years of federal Medicare data for Ohio Counties and found that poor rural Appalachian counties in Ohio – many of which lack health care – have a 2% – 3% higher incidence of degenerative brain disease than rural areas. In a study published online in May in the journal Appalachian Counties in the State.
The study also points out the locations that may benefit from more intense and consistent intervention efforts to change practices and improve local lifestyles that affect health. The Lancet Commission reported this summer that managing 12 specific risk factors, including obesity, smoking and air pollution, could prevent or delay about 40% of cases of dementia worldwide.
“Until we find an effective solution, we can do the most and try to change some of the factors that can contribute to the onset of dementia,” says Stepika Mudrajija, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute. Worked on USAGainest Alzheimer’s Report.
In another study released earlier this year, researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health found that people living in the poorest neighborhoods at the time of their death were almost twice as likely to have a brain based on autopsy. Alzheimer’s disease varies typically as people living in affluent neighborhoods. The researchers used the Neighborhood Atlas, a map developed by the University of Wisconsin that charts neighbors by socioeconomic status.
“We’re in the child’s footsteps trying to understand what this is doing,” says Ryan Powell, a scientist who helped lead the research. He noted that people living in deprived neighborhoods often suffer from stress, sirens and sleep disturbances through the walls of thin apartment rooms and poor nutrition due to lack of fresh fruits and vegetables. Those factors are associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s, research shows.
With a broad proportion of Alzheimer’s for blacks, Latinos, and whites, USGenest Alzheimer’s calculations are based on demographic, health, and socioeconomic pros.
Data show that counties with the highest prevalence of Alzheimer’s have worse social health decisions, including higher levels of poverty, fewer exercise options, and less education.
“Around the board, the highest educational attainment was the highest in those counties,” says Mr. Risendez with USAGainist Alzheimer’s. In the more prevalent counties, less than 20% of the population had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 28% to 32%. Research has shown that higher childhood education levels and lifelong higher educational attainment reduce the risk of dementia.
The report also found that people in high-prevalence areas have fewer exercise opportunities, which could protect people from dementia by reducing the risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. “You can ride a bike or go for a walk, but if you live in a dangerous neighborhood or on the side of a highway, it’s not that easy,” says Mr. Risendez.
Texas has more than a third of the 75 counties with a wide range of Alzheimer’s for blacks, Latinos and whites, a group of counties in the southern part of the state.
Gladys Mestre, a professor of neuroscience and human genetics at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research in Brownsville, is not surprised.
The area is poor, largely rural and has a low level of education compared to some other regions. She believes the prevalence is higher than reported. “Yet, despite the large numbers, we believe the reality is even worse.” Yet, he says, there are few community resources to support and treat people with Alzheimer’s.
She thinks that some of the factors associated with the risk of Alzheimer’s are specific to the location and local levels of toxic metals in water and air pollution, such as one of the 12 risk factors identified by the Lancet.
“It’s definitely about location,” he says. “We need to learn more.”
Write to Claire Ansberry at [email protected]
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