It’s a troubling trend, and a researcher here in Michigan is leading the push to find out why it’s occurring as cases of Alzheimer’s Disease are skyrocketing among Black Americans.
Black American United Memory and Aging project is a $4.8 million study funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Lead researchers on the project include Dr. Travonia Brown-Hughes, a Hampton University professor and Johns Hopkins research scientist, and Corewell Health neuroscientist Dr. Stewart Graham.
They said Alzheimer’s Disease is the sixth leading cause of death among older white Americans but the fourth leading cause of death among older Black Americans.
That trend is expected to rapidly increase in the next five to 10 years, and the goal of the new study is to get ahead of that.
“A lot of the work has been done on Caucasians, but we don’t know how this works in Black Americans, we don’t know how it works in Hispanics, we don’t know how this works in Latinos,” said Stewart.
Over a five-year span, a team of experts will study 600 Black Americans across the country who are 55 and older through urine, saliva, and cognitive tests.
“We’re going to combine our biomedical measurements with all our psychological measurements with all of our cognitive testing information, and it’s going to be a large plot of information which is going to give us a direct readout of how these individuals are affected over this time period,” Stewart said.
Brown-Hughes said this project and fight against Alzheimer’s is personal; she cares for her father, who has been diagnosed with the disease.
“It’s made me more empathetic when it comes to caregivers,” said Brown-Hughes. “Being a caregiver myself, I know how it feels to be helpless because there’s so much about all of this Alzheimer’s Disease that we don’t know.”
Brown-Hughes believes this study will help with prevention and answer questions medical professionals have had for years, “What can we do earlier on when a person is middle-aged that would help offset the development of the disease or at least slow it down?”
The study is done online, and testing is done once a year. Researchers are looking for Black Americans 55 years or older who have never been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease and say participants will be compensated for their time.
Click here for more on the study and how to sign up or participate.