Race and Incident Dementia Among Older Black and Older White Men

Authors

Bosola Jerry-Asooto, Program for Research on Men's Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Boeun Kim, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Alison Huang, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Joseph J. Gallo, Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Keith E. Whitfield, Department of Psychology and Brain Health, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
Robert W. Turner, Department of Clinical Research & Leadership, and Neurology & Rehabilitation Science, The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA.
Roland J. Thorpe, Program for Research on Men's Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

3-1-2025

Journal

Journal of aging and health

Volume

37

Issue

3-4_suppl

DOI

10.1177/08982643241310296

Keywords

African Americans; cognitive status; dementia; epidemiology

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine if racial differences exist between older Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and White (NHW) men in incident dementia over 11 years (2011-2022) in the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). The analytic sample included 2395 community-dwelling NHB and NHW men free of dementia at baseline who self-identified as Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and White (NHW). Dementia was assessed at each visit using a validated algorithm developed by NHATS. After adjusting for demographics, place, and health-related characteristics in the Cox proportional hazard models, older NHB men had an increased risk of dementia (hazard ratio: 1.63, 95% confidence interval: [1.22-2.17]) compared to older NHW men. There may be unique factors such as stressors, patterns of genes, or perhaps nutrition that older NHB men possess and experience throughout their lives that contribute to the increased incident dementia.

APA Citation

Jerry-Asooto, Bosola; Kim, Boeun; Huang, Alison; Gallo, Joseph J.; Whitfield, Keith E.; Turner, Robert W.; and Thorpe, Roland J., "Race and Incident Dementia Among Older Black and Older White Men" (2025). GW Authored Works. Paper 6874.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/6874

Department

Clinical Research and Leadership