The Bronx among the highest frequency of illness in the United States – NBC New York

New research provides statistics regarding the prevalence of Alzheimer’s dementia in New York City, and one New York City borough in particular has been found to have the highest rate of the disease in the nation.

In a first-ever look at the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease at the county level, researchers found the Bronx tied for the highest estimated rates, according to data published Monday in the Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Using cognitive data from the Chicago Health and Aging Project and population estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics, the prevalence rate for Bronx County was estimated to be 16.6%. That figure was tied with Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Baltimore City, Maryland, for the highest rate in the United States.

As for the rest of the New York area, Kings County (Brooklyn) had an estimated prevalence of 15%, Manhattan at 14% and Queens at 13.7%, according to the study.

The study looked at counties across the country with populations of at least 10,000 people aged 65 or older. Overall, the highest prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease is found in the eastern and southeastern regions of the United States, according to the research.

“These new estimates add more granular data to our understanding of the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease across the country,” said Kumar B. Rajan, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at Rush Medical College. raising awareness of the Alzheimer’s disease crisis in specific communities, can help public health programs better allocate funds, staff, and other resources to care for people with Alzheimer’s disease and any other dementia. »

Not only does the Bronx have the highest prevalence for the disease, but New York as a whole was also found to have the second highest state level, according to the data, at 12.7%. Only Maryland had a higher prevalence (12.9%).

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Rajan and the other researchers noted that there was a combination of specific demographics that could explain why the numbers were higher in some counties, including a higher average age and higher percentages of black and Hispanic residents. The Bronx has a higher percentage of its population aged 85 or older (14%, compared to the national average of 12% of people 65 and older), and a much higher portion of its population is black ( 30.1%) or Hispanic (46.9%) than the national averages (9.4% and 8.8% respectively).

Older black Americans are about twice as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias as older white and Hispanic populations. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, older Hispanic populations are 1.5 times more likely to have Alzheimer’s disease than white Americans.

About 6.7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the group.