“We saw differences across race in markers of both neurodegeneration and cerebrovascular disease, but the cerebrovascular disease markers were apparent in midlife,” says research co-author and professor of neuropsychology at Columbia University Medical Center Adam M. Brickman, Ph.D. “In White and Latinx people, the age-associated increase in cerebrovascular disease seems to accelerate as people enter older age, but it was already accelerated in African American people in midlife.”
So, why do the researchers imagine that is occurring? According to Brickman and Columbia University Medical Center postdoctoral neuroscientist and research co-author Indira C. Turney, Ph.D., it isn’t on account of genetics. They suggest social determinants are responsible, specifically racism.
“We know from other literature that [Black Americans] experience more social disadvantages across suboptimal environments, so that is more likely leading to the difference that we’re observing in this population,” says Turney. The repeated publicity to stressors might impression mind well being in a giant manner.