More Than Half Of Native Americans Age 70+ Had Some Form Of Cognitive Impairment

More than half (54%) of Native Americans ages 70 to 95 had cognitive impairment. Within this group, about 10% had dementia, 35% had mild cognitive impairment, and 9% had cognitive impairment due to some other cause. Of those with cognitive impairment, about 40% had vascular brain injury and 40% had Alzheimer’s disease.

These findings were reported in “Epidemiology And Prevalence Of Dementia And Alzheimer's Disease In American Indians: Data From The Strong Heart Study” by Astrid M. Suchy-Dicey, Kimiko Domoto-Reilly, Lonnie Nelson, and colleagues. The researchers analyzed data from the Strong Heart Study, a 30-year . . .