Raising awareness about vascular dementia in the African-Caribbean community in the London

Abstract

David Truswell

In 2013 the UK All Parliamentary Group on Dementia published a report on the impact of dementia in the UK’s Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities that highlighted a number of issues faced by these communities that create barriers to early diagnosis in dementia and receiving appropriate care and support for both those living with dementia and their family careers. In the same year a report commissioned by the Race Equality Foundation reviewed current research on dementia in Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in the UK and identified three key populations with higher risk factors for dementia than any others; the Irish, the South Asian Indian and the African-Caribbean. These higher risks arise partly through the age structure of these populations and partly as a result of lifetime higher levels of health risk for cardio-vascular disease in these populations. The higher risk of cardio vascular illness and its contribution to increased incidence of stroke is thought to be the main driver for the increased risk vascular dementia in these populations

It is often thought that generally migrant populations are younger on average than the host country but this assumption does not take into account the significant age structure differences between settled and new migrant populations. Settled migrant communities are established initially mainly by working age adults and patterns of migration may involve the original population of adult migrant numbers tapering after an initial surge either prompted the push of local events in the country of origin or the pull from economic opportunities in the host country.

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