Black People Less Likely to Receive Dementia-Related Medications
Preliminary study results that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 75th Annual Meeting on April 22-27 reveal that Black people diagnosed with dementia were less likely to receive medications for dementia and associated symptoms than White people.
The study, which involved 25,930 people (3,655 were Black, 12,885 were White), looked at how often participants received 1 or more of 5 medication classes typically prescribed for dementia: cholinesterase inhibitors, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), antipsychotics and benzodiazepines. The researchers found that Black people with dementia received all 5 medication types less often than White people. A breakdown of each medication type is as follows:
Medication Type | Prescriptions for Black People | Prescriptions for White People |
Cholinesterase inhibitors | 20% | 30% |
NMDA antagonists | 10% | 17% |
SSRIs | 24% | 40% |
Antipsychotics | 18% | 22% |
Benzodiazepines | 18% | 37% |
"Previous research has shown that due to racial disparities, people with dementia do not always receive the same access to medications that may be beneficial in nursing homes and hospitals," said Alice Hawkins, MD, Mount Sinai, New York City. “However, there is limited data for the use of dementia medications that people take at home. Our study found disparities in this area as well. We hope our findings lead to a better understanding of these disparities so that steps can be taken to eliminate this health inequity.”
Black people who saw a neurologist received cholinesterase inhibitors and NMDA antagonists at comparable rates to White people. Limitations of the study included the inability to reliably collect actual prescription behavior of physicians and also the data collected relied on what was available in the medical records of the participants. It is still unclear how much of the observed disparity is due to physicians prescribing fewer medications to Black people versus other patient-related factors, such as inability to afford medications according to Hawkins.
“More research is needed to understand the root cause of such disparities and design programs to eliminate them,” said Hawkins.