African Americans are at significantly higher risk to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Research has found that African Americans are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at twice the rate of whites. Initial studies suggest that both genetic and environmental factors may play a role in the disparity. Recent findings indicate that higher rates of poverty—which can reduce access to health care, in turn leading to higher cholesterol, hypertension, higher rates of obesity, etc.—and the chronic stress of discrimination may influence the development of the disease.
Historically, African Americans have also been under-represented in research projects and clinical trials focusing on Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, underreporting of Alzheimer’s within the community has limited scientific knowledge of how the disease develops and progresses among African Americans—and why it affects them more often than members of other populations.
Furthermore, it is a common misconception that Alzheimer’s is a natural part of the aging process. Dan Gasby, husband and partner of businesswoman and prominent Alzheimer’s sufferer B. Smith and coauthor of their memoir Before I Forget, wants to dispel this myth.
Dan knows that more and better research is the only path to a cure—for all of us. Cure Alzheimer’s Fund exists to find and fund that research.
You can help us. Please click here to donate now, and join the fight to end Alzheimer’s.
