People who live in less affluent neighborhoods and those from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups are less likely than others to receive specialized care for dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study.

Further, the study shows that Black people are more likely than white people to be diagnosed with dementia at a later, more advanced stage, which could contribute to inequities in access to new treatments.

New medications to treat early-stage Alzheimer’s have recently emerged. Specifically, aducanumab (trade name Aduhelm) and lecanemab (trade name Leqembi) have been approved for certain patients with early Alzheimer’s disease, which makes the timely diagnosis of Alzheimer’s dementia crucial.

“Dementia care is going through a major transformation right now,” says Suzanne Schindler, an associate professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a coauthor of the study published in the journal Neurology.

“With these new therapeutics, getting evaluated at a specialty clinic early on—when symptoms first develop—is going to be important in a way that it never was before so that eligible patients can have access to these treatments. Our study suggests that we must seek out ways to ensure that the distribution of these new treatments is equitable.”

The study was focused on the Washington University Memory Diagnostic Center in St. Louis. But identifying a local problem also can shine a light on the national and global problem of socioeconomic and racial disparities in health care and, in particular, Alzheimer’s care. This type of study provides a baseline for measuring the impact of efforts to reduce such disparities in the St. Louis region and more broadly, the researchers say.

Read the full article about racial disparities in dementia care by Judy Martin at Futurity.