According to a new, long-term research study by neurological experts at the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center, both African-American and white older patients with Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment have an increased risk of mortality. Research results were published in the June 2009 issue of Archives of Neurology.
Alzheimer’s disease has emerged as a leading cause of death in the United States, and it substantially reduces life expectancy in those diagnosed with the disease. To date, there have been relatively few population-based studies of survival rates in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and its precursor, mild cognitive impairment. Because these studies have primarily focused on the disease and its impact on white persons, little is known about survival rates in African Americans.
The results of the study conducted by Rush suggest that compared to people without cognitive impairment, risk of death was increased by about 50 percent among those with mild cognitive impairment and was nearly three-fold greater among those with Alzheimer’s disease. These effects were seen among African Americans and whites and did not differ by race. Read more about the study here….