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. 2022;9(1):113-118.
doi: 10.14283/jpad.2021.49.

Representation of Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations in Dementia Prevention Trials: A Systematic Review

A R Shaw  1 , J Perales-Puchalt, E Johnson, P Espinoza-Kissell, M Acosta-Rullan, S Frederick, A Lewis, H Chang, J Mahnken, E D Vidoni
Affiliations

Representation of Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations in Dementia Prevention Trials: A Systematic Review

A R Shaw et al. J Prev Alzheimers Dis. 2022.

Abstract

Despite older racial and ethnic minorities (REMs) being more likely to develop dementia they are underrepresented in clinical trials focused on neurological disorders. Inclusion of REMs in dementia prevention studies is vital to reducing the impact of disparities in dementia risk. We conducted a systematic review to characterize the number of REM enrolled in brain health and prevention randomized controlled trials (RCTs). RTCs published from January 1, 2004 to April 21, 2020 were included. Participants were normal cognitive adults aged 45 years and older who participated in a Phase II or Phase III U.S. based preventative trial. Analyses were performed to examine differences in trial characteristics between RCTs that did and those that did not report race/ethnicity and to calculate the pooled proportion of each racial/ethnic group in randomized brain healthy prevention trials. A total of 42 studies consisting of 100,748 participants were included in the final analyses. A total of 26 (62%) reported some racial/ethnic identity data. The pooled proportion of REM participants was 0.256 (95% CI, 0.191, 0.326). There is a lack of racial/ethnic reporting of participants and REMs remain underrepresented in brain health prevention RCTs.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; aging; dementia; prevention; underrepresented minorities.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow diagram of reviewed publications and results
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Pooled Proportion of REM in brain healthy prevention trials between 2004 and 2020 using meta-analyses, and subgroup analyses to assess heterogeneity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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