The study, which was published on October 11 in the journal Plos One, discovered that the effects of modifiable risk factors, such as diabetes, obesity, and hypertension, on the risk of dementia varied depending on the ethnic group.
According to a University College London (UCL) study, those in minority ethnic groups looked to be more at risk for dementia when it came to the most frequent risk factors. The study, which was published on Wednesday, October 11, in the journal Plos One, discovered that the effects of modifiable risk factors, such as diabetes, obesity, and hypertension, on the risk of dementia varied depending on the ethnic group. There were 8,479,973 person-years of follow-up for 865,674 individuals.
“We used anonymised data from English electronic primary care records for adults aged 65 and older between 1997 and 2018,” according to the research.
According to the study, ethnic minorities were not only more likely than White people to have various risk factors, but their risk of contracting the disease was also higher due to these characteristics.
12.6% of the research population—16% of White people, 8.6% of South Asian people, 12.1% of Black people, and 9.7% of persons from other ethnic groups—developed dementia, according to the findings.
“When comparing South Asians to White persons, the effects of high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, low HDL (high-density lipoprotein), and sleep disturbances on the risk of dementia were greater. Black people were more affected by hypertension than White persons, according to the study.
“Analyses using hypertension diagnosed prior to age 60, 55 and 50 all gave the same results as hypertension diagnosed before age 65,” it stated.
The study made the case that dementia prevention initiatives have to be focused on members of underrepresented ethnic groups and adjusted to account for critical risk variables.