TY - JOUR
T1 - Challenges and considerations related to studying dementia in Blacks/African Americans
AU - Ighodaro, Eseosa T.
AU - Nelson, Peter T.
AU - Kukull, Walter A.
AU - Schmitt, Frederick A.
AU - Abner, Erin L.
AU - Caban-Holt, Allison
AU - Bardach, Shoshana H.
AU - Hord, Derrick C.
AU - Glover, Crystal M.
AU - Jicha, Gregory A.
AU - Van Eldik, Linda J.
AU - Byrd, Alexander X.
AU - Fernander, Anita
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 - IOS Press and the authors.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Blacks/African Americans have been reported to be ∼2-4 times more likely to develop clinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared to Whites. Unfortunately, study design challenges (e.g., recruitment bias), racism, mistrust of healthcare providers and biomedical researchers, confounders related to socioeconomic status, and other sources of bias are often ignored when interpreting differences in human subjects categorized by race. Failure to account for these factors can lead to misinterpretation of results, reification of race as biology, discrimination, and missed or delayed diagnoses. Here we provide a selected historical background, discuss challenges, present opportunities, and suggest considerations for studying health outcomes among racial/ethnic groups. We encourage neuroscientists to consider shifting away from using biologic determination to interpret data, and work instead toward a paradigm of incorporating both biological and socio-environmental factors known to affect health outcomes with the goal of understanding and improving dementia treatments for Blacks/African Americans and other underserved populations.
AB - Blacks/African Americans have been reported to be ∼2-4 times more likely to develop clinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared to Whites. Unfortunately, study design challenges (e.g., recruitment bias), racism, mistrust of healthcare providers and biomedical researchers, confounders related to socioeconomic status, and other sources of bias are often ignored when interpreting differences in human subjects categorized by race. Failure to account for these factors can lead to misinterpretation of results, reification of race as biology, discrimination, and missed or delayed diagnoses. Here we provide a selected historical background, discuss challenges, present opportunities, and suggest considerations for studying health outcomes among racial/ethnic groups. We encourage neuroscientists to consider shifting away from using biologic determination to interpret data, and work instead toward a paradigm of incorporating both biological and socio-environmental factors known to affect health outcomes with the goal of understanding and improving dementia treatments for Blacks/African Americans and other underserved populations.
KW - Autopsy
KW - epidemiology
KW - ethnicity
KW - neurodegenerative
KW - neuropathology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85028713872&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85028713872&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3233/JAD-170242
DO - 10.3233/JAD-170242
M3 - Review article
C2 - 28731440
AN - SCOPUS:85028713872
SN - 1387-2877
VL - 60
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
JF - Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
IS - 1
ER -
