Survival after dementia diagnosis in five racial/ethnic groups.
BACKGROUND
Information on anticipated survival time after dementia diagnosis among racially/ethnically diverse patients is needed to plan for care and evaluate disparities.


METHODS
Dementia-free health care members aged ≥64 years were followed (1/1/2000-12/31/2013) for dementia diagnosis and subsequent survival (n = 23,032 Asian American; n = 18,778 African American; n = 21,000 Latino; n = 4543 American Indian/Alaska Native; n = 206,490 white). Kaplan-Meier curves were estimated for survival after dementia diagnosis by race/ethnicity. We contrasted mortality patterns among people with versus without dementia using Cox proportional hazards models.


RESULTS
After dementia diagnosis (n = 59,494), whites had shortest median survival (3.1 years), followed by American Indian/Alaska Natives (3.4 years), African Americans (3.7 years), Latinos (4.1 years), and Asian Americans (4.4 years). Longer postdiagnosis survival among racial/ethnic minorities compared with whites persisted after adjustment for comorbidities. Racial/ethnic mortality inequalities among dementia patients mostly paralleled mortality inequalities among people without dementia.


CONCLUSIONS
Survival after dementia diagnosis differs by race/ethnicity, with shortest survival among whites and longest among Asian Americans.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Elizabeth R
ER
Mayeda
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
M Maria
MM
Glymour
Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Oakland, CA, USA.
Charles P
CP
Quesenberry
Institute for Health & Aging, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Center for Aging in Diverse Communities, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Julene K
JK
Johnson
Office of the Director, National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Eliseo J
EJ
Pérez-Stable
Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Oakland, CA, USA; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. Electronic address: Rachel.Whitmer@kp.org.
Rachel A
RA
Whitmer
D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D044469:Racial Groups; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis
Cohort; Dementia; Disparities; Epidemiology; Ethnicity; Mortality; Race; Survival