There are many social determinants of health, factors that affect the type of health care that people end up receiving. When it comes to various different races, both treatment and research on effects of medicine are unequal. A common example is the education of physicians on diagnosing skin conditions on darker pigmented skin, as well as the lack of diverse images of said skin conditions. The lack of research and testing on darker skin colors, especially for the Black community, puts them at a disadvantage. Less research means that there is less context for the effects of medication or less access. This trend is no different with Alzheimer’s medications which affects over 20% of Black Americans.
Alzheimer’s Disease is an illness that impairs memory and some mental functions, often resulting in the need for a caretaker. While no cure exists, the medications given may temporarily improve these memory symptoms. Two common medications donepezil (Aricept) or aducanumab (Aduhelm) have a severe lack of evidence that they even work on Black people as effectively as they do on the White demographic.
Image of medications in Washington, DC.
Image Source: Anna Moneymaker
Aricept has been commonly prescribed to Alzheimer’s patients for years, however their clinical trials have little diversity with a skewed distribution of the race of the patient. The participant breakdown was 95% white, 3% Black, and 2% was from other races. This very unequal testing has very real and detrimental consequences for patients. It leads to a lack of understanding on how the medication may work or negatively affect a large amount of patients.
Black people are two times as likely to have Alzheimer’s than White people. Similarly, Hispanics are 1.5 times as likely than White people to be affected by memory related diseases including Alzheimer’s. When it comes to Alzheimer’s disease specifically, the fact that testing demographics don’t closely resemble the population that is affected by this illness is harmful.
The importance of diverse study trials for a diverse population of patients is essential because this disease and medicinal treatments may affect each person differently.
With time has come a larger push for more diversity not only within healthcare workers and providers, but also for the patients and the trials that some go through for medications. More pressure from the public and healthcare workers, as well as caretakers is being placed on research facilities and managers across the United States to diversify their sample size of participants. More representative research allows for better healthcare and better treatment for many different communities.
Featured Image Source: Orawan
