African-Americans More Likely To Suffer From Alzheimer Than Whites

African-Americans and Hispanics have a greater risk of developing Alzheimers disease than other races, according to a report published by the Alzheimer’s Association.

While Caucasians make up the majority of the 5 million people effected by Alzheimers, the study found that African-Americans are about 2 times more likely and Hispanics are about 1.5 times more likely than their Caucasian counterparts.

The report points out that health and socioeconomic factors probably contribute to the greater prevalence of Alzheimer’s and other dementias in African-Americans and Hispanics.

“Alzheimer’s disease is the single largest, looming, unaddressed public health threat facing the nation, but we now know the threat is even more substantial in the African-American and Hispanic communities,” said Harry Johns, Alzheimer’s Association President and CEO. “These groups are more likely to have Alzheimer’s, less likely to know it and, as a result, less likely to receive available treatments and supportive services that can help them cope with the disease.”

Moreover, the report also revealed that African-Americans and Hispanics are less likely than Caucasians to have a formal diagnosis of their condition.

“The Association is committed to increasing awareness about risk factors for Alzheimer’s and other dementias among all Americans,” said Johns. “Greater understanding about the importance of proper management of diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes will allow individuals to make more informed health care decisions and adopt healthy life style behaviors that can also help to reduce Alzheimer and dementia risk.”

Minority Boys Turn To Smoking After Facing Discrimination

Minority boys, but not girls, turn to smoking when they perceive discrimination, according to a study published in the March 2010 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine conducted a study of 2,561 black and Latino adolescents, 12-19 years old, from low-income households in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, and found that 1 in 4 of the participants reported discrimination at least once within the last 6 months.

The findings of the study revealed that while minority boys smoked more when they perceived discrimination there was no association between perceived discrimination and smoking in minority girls, 12-15 years old.

"Boys and girls may experience discriminiation differently due to where they spend time and that may account for the differences in wheter discrimination was associated with smoking," said Sarah Wiehe, MD, MPH, assistant professor of pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine. "We need to be aware that discrimination is a public health problem for adolescents - one related to major health issues like smoking - and need to actively work to reduce these occurrences."

Dr. Wiehe suggested that boys' increased smoking in higher discrimination settings may be a result of increased stress from gender-specific targeting by police and businesses. "Because of the vrey high smoking rates among young minority men, law enforcement, schools, and health care providers need to work closely with communities to prevent smoking initiation," said J. Dennis Fortenberry, MD, MS, professor of pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine and senior author of the paper.

Sleep Duration Effects to Belly Fat in Minority Kids

Getting too little sleep or too much sleep can lead to increases in belly fat among African-American and Hispanic young adults, according to researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

For the study lead by Kristen Hairson, MD, assistant professor of internal medicain at Wake Forest Universeity School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., researchers collected information from 332 African-Americans and 775 Hispanics, 18-81 years of age. On average, participants slept for 6.7 hours each night. Less than 20% of the participants reported sleeping five hours or elss per night, 55% preported sleeping 6-7 hours nightly, and 28% averaged 8 or more hours of sleep each night.

Results of the study revealed that among those 40 years old or younger, both short and long seep durations resulted in significant increaes in body mass index (BMI), subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) fat accumulation.

"Appropriate amounts of sleep are important for maintence of healthy weight," Dr. Hairson stated. " In a group of African-American and Hispanic participants, those who slept less than this had greater increases in belly fat over a five-year period."

Proposed explainations of the findings suggest that shorter hours of sleep may promote increased caloric intake via increased hunger or by lowering energy expenditure. Additionallly, the authors suggested that it is imporant for health care providers to encourage patients to get adequate amounts of sleep.

The findings of this study was published in the March 1 issue of Sleep.