Oregon Researchers to Study Link Between African-American Culture and Dementia

Researchers will investigate how aspects of African-American lifestyles could influence the onset of dementia in older African Americans in a new study at the Oregon Health Sciences University's Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Center. The Portland Oregonian reports that the study, the African American Dementia and Aging Project, will examine 200 African-American seniors from the Portland area. Funded by OHSU and the Alzheimer's Association, the project will look at participants' stress levels, diet, exercise and physical and cognitive health to determine whether a link exists between lifestyle and dementia in older African Americans. Lead researcher Fred Miller also hopes to learn how the stress prompted by cultural factors such as racism could affect the onset of dementia. Study participants will meet with researchers every six months over a five-year period. Each year, they will receive physical exams and an MRI to track brain changes and will fill out questionnaires about health, diet and stress levels. Participants will also receive an annual test to measure their levels of cortisone, a hormone associated with stress. Miller said that he hopes the project will help explain the link between older African Americans and memory problems. "There is very little information on memory that affects African Americans. I want to be able to develop instruments that can help the family physician make better diagnoses among that population," Miller said (Barnett, Portland Oregonian, 2/28).