Risk factors for dementia vary by ethnicity

Elder care - iStock Factors that increase the risk of dementia have a greater impact on risk for people in minority ethnic groups, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The new PLOS One study found that modifiable risk factors-including hypertension, obesity, diabetes, low HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol and sleep disorders-have different impacts on dementia risk for different ethnic groups. The number of people with dementia is on the rise around the world. There has been increasing interest in potentially modifiable risk factors, as eliminating these could theoretically prevent around 40% of dementia cases, according to research led by UCL academics. However, most risk factor studies have been conducted only in people of European descent. In the new study, researchers analysed the relationship between risk factors and dementia onset using anonymised data from English primary care records, spanning 1997 to 2018, for 865,674 adults in diverse ethnic groups. Overall, 12.6% of the study population developed dementia-16.0% of White people, 8.6% of South Asian people, 12.1% of Black people and 9.7% of those from other ethnic groups.