New dementia trend research from UNC School of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center revealed that while new diagnoses are declining, more Americans have the disease, according to a release.
The scientists reviewed over 25 million “fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries aged 66 or older with at least one year of continuous enrollment” from 2015-2021. They found that while “age- and sex-adjusted incidence of dementia fell from 3.5% in 2015 to 2.8% in 2021,” nearly 12% of traditional Medicare enrollees were living with the disease by 2021. Additionally, Black patients had the highest prevalence rate. The findings show possible inequities among minorities.
The authors call for future actions to reduce health disparities.
The study is published in The British Medical Journal.
