While visiting with DH in a dementia facility we had an interesting discussion. The hospice nurse, other caregivers, the social worker and me (I'm a home health nurse) have never come across a black person with AD. Are they not diagnosed or not even brought anywhere for treatment. My daughter who is a nursing home consultant thought as blacks are more prone to cardiovascular disease they might not be diagnosed with AD. Any thoughts? bluedaze
According to this link that references an Alz.Assoc report, it is actually more common. (http://alzheimers.about.com/od/research/a/african_america.htm)
Quote from the article: ...Washington, D.C: Alzheimer’s disease appears to be more prevalent among Black Americans with estimates ranging from 14 percent to almost 100 percent higher than the disease’s prevalence among whites—according to a new report prepared by the Alzheimer’s Association and released today by the Congressional Black Caucus...
On the other hand, according to this study (http://archneur.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/60/2/185), possessing the APOE gene is linked to a higher incidence of AD in caucasians, but not in people of black heritage.
I've talked with several workers in the facilities that my DH has been in who are black and most of them had one or more relatives that have or had the disease. They also told me that they were kept at home until the end.
Some of my friends are nurses and they speculate that the black community not only has a different culture in respect to keeping a person home, there is no money available to put them into a facility or even have them under a doctor's care.