Sample diversity has improved recently, with proportion of Blacks increasing from 3.39 percent in 1994-2017 to 8.29 percent in 2018-2022<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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FRIDAY, July 28, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Racial and ethnic minority groups are underrepresented in Alzheimer disease neuroimaging literature, according to a study published online July 25 in Communications Medicine<\/em>.<\/p>\n Aaron C. Lim, Ph.D., from the Keck School of Medicine of USC in Alhambra, California, and colleagues identified median race\/ethnicity composition of Alzheimer disease neuroimaging U.S.-based research samples in published studies. Studies that directly reported race\/ethnicity data (direct studies) and those that did not report race\/ethnicity, but used data from a cohort study\/database that did report this information (indirect studies), were analyzed.<\/p>\n The researchers found that in the 719 direct studies, the median representation was 88.9 percent White or 87.4 percent non-Hispanic White, 7.3 percent Black\/African American, and 3.4 percent Hispanic\/Latino ethnicity; no Asian American, Native Hawaiian\/Pacific Islander, and American Indian\/Alaska Native, multiracial, or “other race” participants were included. The 44 cohort studies\/databases from which 1,745 indirect studies were derived were more diverse and included median representation of 84.2 percent White, 83.7 percent non-Hispanic White, 11.6 percent Black\/African Americans, 4.7 percent Hispanic\/Latino, and 1.75 percent Asian American participants. Most of the indirect studies (94 percent) were derived from 10 cohort studies\/databases. Sample diversity improved recently comparing two time periods using a median split for publication year (1994 to 2017 and 2018 to 2022), especially for Black\/African American participants (3.39 and 8.29 percent in 1994-2017 and 2018-2022, respectively).<\/p>\n “This is a pretty big deal, especially as we look toward the future, where an increasing proportion of the U.S. will be ethnic minority groups,” Lim said in a statement.<\/p>\n