Alzheimer's disease may affect the brain differently in African-Americans than European Americans

Alzheimer’s disease may cause different changes in the brain in African-Americans than in white Americans of European descent, according to a recent study, published in the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study compared brain autopsies of 41 African-Americans with a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, to 81 deceased European-Americans, all of which were the same age and sex and had the same Alzheimer’s disease severity level.

Dr Doug Brown, director of research at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “There are 850,000 people with Dementia in the UK and the majority have Alzheimer’s disease. This new study shows that most people with Alzheimer’s disease also have signs of other forms of Dementia, and this is more common in black people than white.”

Researchers looked for typical signs of Alzheimer’s disease including; plaques and tangles, as well as other brain changes that can cause Dementia, such as infarcts and Lewy bodies, also associated with strokes. Key findings produced from the study found that approximately half of European-Americans had pure Alzheimer’s disease pathology, whereas the rest also had infarcts and Lewy bodies.

In contrast, less than 25 percent of African Americans had pure Alzheimer’s disease pathology and had more frequent and severe blood vessel disease.

Dr Brown added: “Through research we are learning more about the complexities of what happens in the brain and this finding reinforces that we cannot view Alzheimer’s disease in isolation, as all forms of Dementia desperately need new treatments.”

Alzheimer’s Society research shows that in less than ten years one million people could be living with Dementia in the UK, costing the UK economy more than £26 billion each year.