Racial/ethnic differences in neuropsychiatric disturbances associated with incident dementia

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONNeuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are nearly universal in dementia; some cross‐sectional studies of NPS in dementia have found racial/ethnic differences, though it is unknown if NPS prevalence differs among racial/ethnic groups before and after dementia diagnosis.METHODSParticipants were followed annually at Alzheimer's Disease Centers and were assessed on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory‐Questionnaire (NPI‐Q) with at least one follow‐up visit at which they were diagnosed with dementia. Descriptive statistics were generated by race/ethnicity. NPS were modeled over time as a function of race/ethnicity and with diagnosis date as the baseline.RESULTSNPS were present in 95% in at least one time point. After adjusting for covariates, there were no statistically significant differences in NPI‐Q total scores among racial/ethnic groups at the time of and after dementia diagnosis.DISCUSSIONFindings from our prospective cohort study suggest that when individuals are matched at the time of conversion to dementia, there are no racial/ethnic differences in NPS.Highlights Neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia are frequent and increase caregiver burden. Prior studies reported more neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in Black compared to White individuals with dementia. National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center Black, White, and Hispanic participants did not differ in NPS at the time of dementia diagnosis.