Purpose:
The number of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people living with dementia is expected to increase 5-fold by 2060. Social determinants of health may explain disparities in the incidence of Alzheimer disease (AD) but remain largely overlooked.
Methods:
We examined the time trend of AD mortality rates and associations of the percentage of AI/ANs, density of primary care physicians and neurologists, area deprivation index, rurality, and Indian Health Service region with AD mortality in 646 purchased/referred care delivery area counties.
Results:
AD mortality rates significantly increased over time. Counties with higher concentrations of AI/AN people had lower AD mortality. More deprived counties had 34% higher AD mortality compared with less deprived counties. AD mortality was 20% lower in nonmetro counties than in metro counties.
Conclusions:…
