More African Americans are afflicted with Alzheimer's disease than are whites, at rates from 14% to 100% higher

Ervin Dyer:

Many people don't realize they have the disease, often dismissing the symptoms as just the signs of "old age."

Because of these factors, researchers and the Alzheimer's Association have labeled the disease as a silent epidemic, one that is a growing health crisis among black Americans.

Now, if blacks were not vexed enough by disproportionate rates of high blood pressure and high cholesterol, according to research, these same vascular illnesses seem to be significant risk factors for triggering Alzheimer's. If you are African American and suffer from both, you are four times more likely to develop dementia.

Blacks also have a 60 percent greater chance of developing type 2 diabetes, a direct contributor to vascular disease.

Over the next 30 years, as the baby boom population ages, it is estimated that 6.9 million black Americans will be at risk, more than double what the numbers are now.

Futhermore, there are two health-care phenomena that negatively affect black Americans with Alzheimer's disease. One, black Americans remain seriously underrepresented in clinical trials of potential treatments. And two, they tend not to see a doctor until the disease is more advanced and there are fewer ways that the doctor can help them.

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