Aboriginals in the Kimberley suffer higher dementia rates

Nov 3 2008

Australian researchers have found that Aboriginal people living in the Kimberley, in northern Western Australia, have significantly higher rates of dementia than the rest of the population.

It appears that for these Aboriginals the dementia rate for people over 45 is 12.4% - five times higher than non-Aboriginal Australians.

The study which was conducted by the Western Australian Centre for Health and Ageing found that other chronic disease leads to the onset of dementia in Aboriginal people, while alcohol is only a minor factor.

Lead investigator Associate Professor David Atkinson says they were surprised at the high rates of dementia because it has always been assumed the shorter life expectancy of Aboriginal people meant they did not suffer as much dementia, when in fact what happens is dementia happens earlier.

The study involved a total of 363 Indigenous Australians aged over 45 years all from the Kimberley region who were assessed with the Kimberley Indigenous Cognitive Assessment (KICA).

All those who scored less than 37 on the KICA and a percentage of those scoring 37 or more were reviewed by specialist clinicians and diagnosed by two other specialists who were unaware of the KICA results.

The results found the prevalence of dementia was 12.4%, substantially higher than in the Australian general population and the prevalence of cognitive impairment which was not dementia was 8.0%.

The researchers say despite people not living as long, the prevalence of dementia among Indigenous Australians is substantially higher than that found in non–Indigenous Australians and all other studied populations.