Alzheimer's in Black and White

Black Americans are up to twice as likely to get Alzheimer's disease as their white counterparts. But though drugs and interventions have the best chance to help slow cognitive decline when the disease is diagnosed at its earliest stages, their symptoms are often dismissed as "normal aging," leaving the burden of care to heartbreaking their families. What can be done about this infuriating racial disparity?

- LYNYA FLOYD

Valene Campbell started to have a sinking feeling as she was standing in the security line at the airport. It was fall 2016, and she was headed to London for a birthday celebration. But Campbell's mom, Patricia, 71 at the time, kept holding up the line. In fact, she seemed strangely confused by the entire process.

When they finally arrived in London, Campbell noticed another alarming change. "My mom is a very neat packer, and a sense of style is everything to her," says the now 46-year-old author from Toronto. "So when she opened her suitcase and I saw everything in total disarray, I knew what I was witnessing."

A year later, a doctor confirmed what Campbell had suspected: Patricia had Alzheimer's disease. 

Patricia is among the 21.3% of Black Americans 70 and older who are living with Alzheimer's, the progressive brain disease that robs people of their memory, their ability to take care of themselves, and eventually their lives. But though Alzheimer's strikes people of all races and backgrounds, it is not an equal-opportunity disease: While Black people are up to twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia as white people, that increased risk doesn't lead to their getting increased attention from doctors, who might be able to prescribe drugs or recommend lifestyle changes to slow the progression of the disease in its earliest stages. In fact, the opposite happens: Studies show that compared with white people, Black people tend not to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's until it has progressed much further.