scholarly journals Raising Awareness of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia in Native Americans in North Carolina

2022 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-78
Author(s):  
Kathleen A. Welsh-Bohmer ◽  
Goldie Smith Byrd ◽  
Rachel Dewees ◽  
Andrea C. Bozoki ◽  
Patrick M. Martin ◽  
...  
PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0253253
Author(s):  
Sung Han Rhew ◽  
Julia Kravchenko ◽  
H. Kim Lyerly

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), non-AD dementia, and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are increasingly common in older adults, yet all risk factors for their onset are not fully understood. Consequently, environmental exposures, including air pollution, have been hypothesized to contribute to the etiology of neurodegeneration. Because persistently elevated rates of AD mortality in the southern Piedmont area of North Carolina (NC) have been documented, we studied mortality and hospital admissions for AD, non-AD dementia, and PD in residential populations aged 65+ with long-term exposures to elevated levels of ambient air particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality standards (≥10μg/m3). Health data were obtained from the State Center for Health Statistics and the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. PM2.5 levels were obtained from the MODIS/MISR and SeaWiFS datafiles. Residents in the Study group of elevated air particulate matter (87 zip codes with PM2.5≥10μg/m3) were compared to the residents in the Control group with low levels of air particulate matter (81 zip codes with PM2.5≤7.61μg/m3), and were found to have higher age-adjusted rates of mortality and hospital admissions for AD, non-AD dementia, and PD, including a most pronounced increase in AD mortality (323/100,000 vs. 257/100,000, respectively). After adjustment for multiple co-factors, the risk of death (odds ratio, or OR) from AD in the Study group (OR = 1.35, 95%CI[1.24–1.48]) was significantly higher than ORs of non-AD dementia or PD (OR = 0.97, 95%CI[0.90–1.04] and OR = 1.13, 95%CI[0.92–1.31]). The OR of hospital admissions was significantly increased only for AD as a primary case of hospitalization (OR = 1.54, 95%CI[1.31–1.82]). Conclusion: NC residents aged 65+ with long-term exposures to ambient PM2.5 levels exceeding the WHO standard had significantly increased risks of death and hospital admissions for AD. The effects for non-AD dementia and PD were less pronounced.


2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myron F. Weiner ◽  
Roger N. Rosenberg ◽  
Doris Svetlik ◽  
Linda S. Hynan ◽  
Kyle B. Womack ◽  
...  

Objective: This study compared medical history and findings on initial clinical examination in Native Americans diagnosed with possible or probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) at Native American satellite clinics of the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center's Alzheimer's Disease Center with those of Whites diagnosed with probable AD at the UT Southwestern Medical Center's Alzheimer's Disease Clinic. Methods: The information reviewed was contained in the database of the UT Southwestern Alzheimer's Disease Center. Results: In relation to Whites, Native Americans had slightly but significantly greater age at onset of symptoms (71.7 vs. 69.6 years, t = −2.08, p = .04) and equivalent cognitive scores at evaluation (Mini-Mental State Exam score = 17.4 vs. 18.5, t = 0.98, p = .33), despite significantly lower educational level (11.4 vs. 13.4 years, t = 5.63, p < .001). Native Americans were more frequently depressed on examination (22.8% vs. 9.5%, χ2 = 12, p = .001) and reported diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease significantly more often than did Whites (p < .01 for all), but their survival time after AD diagnosis was similar to that of Whites despite these comorbidities. Conclusions: With the exception of a greater prevalence of depression and cardiovascular risk factors in Native Americans than in Whites, Native Americans had a course of illness similar to that of Whites.


Rev Rene ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silomar Ilha ◽  
Dirce Stein Backes ◽  
Silvana Sidney Costa Santos ◽  
Daiane Porto Gautério-Abreu ◽  
Claudia Zamberlan ◽  
...  

Objective: to understand the relationships experienced by a group of health care teachers directed to family members/caregivers of older people with Alzheimer’s disease. Methods: qualitative research, conducted with five teachers participating in a support group developed in a university. Data collected by the technique of focus group submitted to Focal Strategic Analysis. Results: six categories were identified: Difficulty in raising awareness of the participants about Alzheimer’s disease; The interdisciplinary in the guidelines; Exchange of knowledge; Acquire/search for more knowledge; Expansion/socialization of knowledge about Alzheimer’s disease: an even existing challenge; Absence attendance: a threat to the existence of the group. Conclusion: the disorder is a reality experienced by teachers in the group, which is (re)organize constantly seeking the best way to guide and foster care.


2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 840-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte E. Arbogast ◽  
E. Ayn Welleford ◽  
F. Ellen Netting

An interpretive analysis of 38 state dementia plans compares similarities and differences in diagnostic framing (problem identification/trends/issues), prognosis framing (addressing the problem), and motivational framing (calls for action) across plans. In framing diagnosis, only 6 plans used dementia alone in their titles. In framing prognosis and the subsequent call to action, state plans were consistent in their dire prognostications about the progressive and fatal consequences of the disease with a primary focus on the cost. Motivational language mirrored that of the Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) Movement, from raising awareness to using inflammatory words to incite action. The language used set up the frame for clinical interventions that may not distinguish between types of dementia and could undercut the provision of person-centered care, shifts the victimization focus from persons with AD to caregivers and ultimately the state, and may subintentionally reflect cultural biases.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (S10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen A Welsh‐Bohmer ◽  
Brenda L Plassman ◽  
Daniel Kaufer ◽  
Grace Byfield ◽  
Stephen Russ Price ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen M. Kelley ◽  
Larry L. Jacoby

Abstract Cognitive control constrains retrieval processing and so restricts what comes to mind as input to the attribution system. We review evidence that older adults, patients with Alzheimer's disease, and people with traumatic brain injury exert less cognitive control during retrieval, and so are susceptible to memory misattributions in the form of dramatic levels of false remembering.


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