Prevention Strategies for Cognitive Decline in Black Patients With MCI

Published in JAMA Neurology, a randomized 2-year clinical trial of 221 black participants with mild cognitive impairment assessed whether supportive therapy or behavioral activation increased cognitive, physical, and social activity.

The findings…behavioral activation significantly reduced cognitive decline compared with supportive therapy. Memory decline was 1.2% compared with 9.3% for supportive therapy.

Given the basic fact that the black population has twice the rate of dementia as their white counterparts, behavioral activation techniques may offer an approach to change another racial disparity in health care.

Despite this dramatic difference in rates of Alzheimer disease (AD) between the black and white population, clinical studies of African-American patients lag behind those of non-Hispanic white patients. Future research should address these disparities.