Quality of life, religion/spirituality, and dementia risk among Black people in the US

Objectives: Black people in the United States (US) experience an increased risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). More research is needed on psychosocial factors that may contribute to racial disparities in rates of ADRD. Past work has identified a relationship between quality of life (QoL) and ADRD risk and also found that religion/spirituality (R/S) participation protects against ADRD. The present analysis clarifies previous findings by examining how QoL factors and a unique sociocultural experience (i.e. R/S among Black people in the US) affect ADRD risk.

Method: This was a cross-sectional analysis using data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative longitudinal dataset with an oversampling of Black adults. We conducted logistic regression and causal mediation analyses using R/S, QoL, and ADRD.

Results: Higher levels of negative affect are significantly associated with increased ADRD risk while more frequently attending religious services is significantly associated with reduced ADRD risk. Further, positive affect trended toward reducing ADRD risk. Positive/negative affect partially mediated the relationship between religious services attendance and ADRD risk.

Conclusion: These findings demonstrate the importance of involving those experiencing negative effects in R/S for reducing the ADRD burden for Black people in the US.