Indigenous individuals present distinct modifiable risk factors of dementia than white individuals: an ELSI‐Brazil study
Carolina Rodrigues Formoso, Wyllians Vendramini Borelli, Pedro Rosa‐Neto, Pamela C.L. Ferreira, Tharick A. Pascoal, Raphael Machado Castilhos, Eduardo R Zimmer- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
- Geriatrics and Gerontology
- Neurology (clinical)
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Health Policy
- Epidemiology
Abstract
Background
Risk factors for dementia have distinct frequency and impact according to racial origins. Our aim was to identify differences of modifiable risk factors of dementia related to Indigenous and White individuals, estimate their Population Attributable Fraction (PAF) and highlight the differences between races.
Methods
An epidemiological cohort named ELSI‐Brazil was used to estimate the prevalence of 10 modifiable risk factors for dementia among 2 races ‐ White and Indigenous. he ELSI‐Brazil cohort consists of 9412 individuals (63.55+‐10.14 years of age). This cohort comprises individuals at/ or above 50 years of age from across the country. Complex sampling warrants nationwide representativity for diseases with low prevalence. Races were self‐reported according to the Brazilian Census. Sample weighting was used to estimate the prevalence and PAF of each risk factor in each race.
Results
Among 3810 individuals included, 220 were Indigenous individuals. The Indigenous were younger (mean age 62.6 [±9.6] years) and less educated (mean 4.3 [±4.0] years) than the White (mean age 64 years [±10.2], mean education years 6.2 [±4.4]). Both were composed by most females. The most important weighted PAF were hearing loss for both races (Indigenous 16.7%; White 15.2%). The most prevalent risk factor for both were less education, which were higher in Indigenous individuals (69.5%) than in White individuals (55.1%). By contrast, social isolation was less prevalent in Indigenous (1.5%) than White (5.1%). Overall adjusted PAF was lower in Indigneous (38.9%), compared to White (49,2%).
Conclusion
White and Indigenous presented different prevalence of risk factors, though they had hearing loss as the most impacting risk factor for dementia. However, it seemed that Ocidental risk factors didn’t produce the same effect in indigenous individuals as in white individuals. Thus, indigenous individuals presented a distinct profile of risk factors of dementia than individuals from other self‐reported races.