Incidence and risk factors for AD/ADRD among American Indian and Alaska Native US Veterans.

Authors

Christina S Dintica, Amber Bahorik, Feng Xia, John Boscardin, Karen Parko, Kristine Yaffe

Published in

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. Volume 22. Issue 9. Pages e71856.

Abstract

Our goal was to determine Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD) incidence and risk factors among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) veterans, an understudied group.
We identified AI/AN veterans ≥ 55 years receiving Veterans Health Administration care between 2005 and 2010 (n = 31,341) and a propensity score-matched non-Hispanic White (NHW) group for AD/ADRD (using International Classification of Diseases 9th/10th Revision codes from 2011-2023) incidence rate comparison. Age-adjusted incidence was calculated by direct standardization. Among AI/AN veterans, we determined dementia risk factors using Cox models.
Among 31,341 AI/AN veterans (mean age 67.8 years), 16.2% developed AD/ADRD over 9.3 years. Age-adjusted incidence was higher among AI/AN than NHW veterans (19.0 vs. 16.2 per 1000 person-years; incidence rate ratio: 1.17). Vascular conditions, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression were associated with risk of dementia among AI/AN veterans.
AI/AN veterans experience higher AD/ADRD burden driven by modifiable risk factors, though findings may not generalize to non-veteran AI/AN populations.

PMID:
42740335
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 15 Sep 2026.

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