Introduction: As higher dementia prevalence in ethnic minority groups could be attributed to low education, we studied individuals with low education and explored potential factors driving dementia disparities.
Methods: We examined differences in dementia risk between low-educated non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics, and African Americans, and the impact of lifetime risk factors using data from the nationally representative Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study (N = 819).
Results: As indicated by Cox regression modeling, dementia risk of low-educated individuals was not significantly different between ethnic groups but was related to having an APOE e4 allele (hazard ratio [HR] 1.89), depression (HR 1.67), stroke (HR 1.60), and smoking (HR 1.32). Further, even in people with low education, every additional year of education decreased dementia risk (HR 0.95).
Discussion: Our findings imply that higher dementia prevalence in ethnic minorities may be attributable to low education, especially among Hispanics, in addition to other risk factors.
Keywords: Racial and ethnic minorities; cognitive functioning; dementia risk; disparities; education; hispanic paradox; lifetime risk; longitudinal cohort study.
Copyright © 2018 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.