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Christopher M. Clark, MD; Charles DeCarli, MD; Dan Mungas, PhD; Helena I. Chui, MD; Roger Higdon, PhD; Jessica Nuñez; Henrique Fernandez, MD; Mirna Negrón, BSW; Jennifer Manly, PhD; Steven Ferris, PhD; Angelica Perez, PhD; Migdalia Torres, MSW; Douglas Ewbank, PhD; Guila Glosser, PhD; Gerald van Belle, PhD

Arch Neurol. 2005;62:774-778.

Background  Latino individuals are the largest minority group and the fastest growing population group in the United States, yet there are few studies comparing the clinical features of Alzheimer disease (AD) in this population with those found in Anglo (white non-Latino) patients.

Objective  To compare the age at AD symptom onset in Latino and Anglo individuals.

Design  Cross-sectional assessment using standardized methods to collect and compare age at AD symptom onset, demographic variables, and medical variables.

Setting  Five National Institute on Aging–sponsored Alzheimer’s Disease Centers with experience evaluating Spanish-speaking individuals.

Patients  We evaluated 119 Latino and 55 Anglo patients who had a diagnosis of AD.

Main Outcome Measure  Age at symptom onset.

Results  After adjusting for center, sex, and years of education, Latino patients had a mean age at symptom onset 6.8 years earlier (95% confidence interval, 3.5-10.3 years earlier) than Anglo patients.

Conclusions  An earlier age at symptom onset suggests that US mainland Latino individuals may experience an increased burden of AD compared with Anglo individuals. The basis for the younger age at symptom onset remains obscure.

Author Affiliations: Department of Neurology (Drs Clark and Glosser), Alzheimer’s Disease Center (Drs Clark, Fernandez, Ewbank, and Glosser and Mss Nuñez and Negrón), and the Population Studies Center (Dr Ewbank), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Department of Neurology, Sergievsky Center, and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (Dr Manly), Columbia University, New York, NY; Alzheimer’s Disease Center (Drs Ferris and Perez and Ms Torres), New York University, New York; Department of Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (Dr Chui), University of Southern California, Los Angeles; Department of Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center (Drs DeCarli and Mungas), University of California, Davis; and the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (Drs Higdon and van Belle), University of Washington, Seattle.

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