African American Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease Tied to Adolescent and Young Adult Phases of Life

This year’s AAIC was made available online free of charge [kudos to the Alzheimer’s Association for making this work]. To view these presentations, you would have to register for the conference, but I’m not sure how long it will be available online…lectures are still available as the date of this posting, August 11, 2020.

Drs. Rachel Whitmer, Kristen George and Rachel Peterson of UC Davis reported on behalf of the Study of Healthy Aging in African Americans (STAR) study: when adolescents (12-20 yrs old) have high blood pressure and diabetes, they have worse late-life cognitive outcomes. The same risk applies if either hypertension or diabetes or both are present in young adulthood (considered age 21-34) or midlife (age 35-56). These conditions are more prevalent among African Americans than Caucasians within these age groups.

While many of us think of preventing head injury and substance abuse as brain health practices or, as the NFL has termed it, HEAD health, these findings make it clear that we need to screen young people for conditions that are often assumed to pop up in middle-age. Not to do so among African Americans creates a health disparity.