Black patients with Alzheimer’s disease more likely to have mixed pathology

The findings suggest that black alzheimer's disease patients are more likely to have Alzheimer pathology mixed with other pathology, such as Lewy bodies and infarcts.In the image, a PET scan of a patient with Alzheimer's disease — Autopsy studies revealed that black patients with Alzheimer’s disease have differing neuropathology to white patients

The neuropathology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been studied almost exclusively in white people, despite the fact that black people may be more likely to develop the disease. To begin to correct this imbalance, an autopsy study reports neuropathological findings from 41 black patients and 81 case-matched white patients with AD.

The findings suggest that black AD patients are less likely than their white counterparts to have Alzheimer pathology alone (19.5% versus 42.0%), and more likely to have Alzheimer pathology mixed with other pathology, such as Lewy bodies and infarcts (70.7% versus 50.6%). Black patients also had more severe arteriolar sclerosis and atherosclerosis.

The authors of the study, published in Neurology (online, 15 July 2015)^[1], emphasise the need for specific AD prevention and treatment strategies in African-Americans.