Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Can You Guess the Fastest Growing Alzheimer's Group?

Can you name the fastest growing population developing Alzheimer's? Hint: It's the same that has become the fastest growing population segment in the United States - Hispanics.

Medical News Today reports
that The Alzheimer's Association has developed a set of tools to help this group cope with the disease, from a telenovela DVD describing the impact of the disease on a family to an online virtual tour of the brain in Spanish.

Why is this group the fastest growing group vulnerable to Alzheimer's? A combination of lifestyle factors plus the sheer fact that their population is growing at a high rate accounts for this phenomenon. Diabetes and high cholesterol related diseases is another contributory factor.

Two other observations of note:
  • Latinos have the highest longevity rate among ethnic Americans, which was the strongest predictor of developing the disease
  • Latinos develop Alzheimer's on average about seven years earlier than other non-Latino white Americans

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