Alzheimer’s Disease May Develop Differently In African-Americans, Study Suggests

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January 7th, 2019

A colorized image of a brain cell from an Alzheimer’s patient shows a neurofibrillary tangle (red) inside the cytoplasm (yellow) of the cell. The tangles consist primarily of a protein called tau.

Scientists have found a biological clue that could help explain why African-Americans appear to be more vulnerable than white Americans to Alzheimer’s disease.

A study of 1,255 people, both black and white, found that cerebrospinal fluid from African-Americans tended to contain lower levels of a substance associated with Alzheimer’s, researchers report Monday in the journal JAMA Neurology.

Yet these low levels did not seem to protect black participants from the disease.

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