Racial and Gender Disparities Among Asian and Other Races with Alzheimer's Disease: The Analysis of Hospitalization and Mortality Rates of Alzheimer's Disease Patients in the State of New Jersey from 2006 to 2011

Previous studies on disparities in Alzheimer's Disease(AD) mostly focused on blacks, whites, and Hispanics. Little attention has been paid to Asians even though Asians 65+ are one of the fastest growing segments among non-white minority groups. Though AD is as prevalent among Asians as among Whites, the underutilizations of Asian AD patients in Medicare services and AD care facilities imply that Asians are as underdiagnosed as Blacks. Therefore, this study is intended to:1)examine the issue of underdiagnosis for Asian AD patients by looking at their hospitalization and mortality rates, and 2)compare the hospitalization and mortality rates of Asians with AD to the rates of other races.

Any hospitalizations made by AD patients aged65+ were pulled regardless of their reasons for hospitalizations from NEW JERSEY Hospital Discharge data2006-2011. Race, gender, age, payer, and mortality were identified to examine the racial and gender disparities and interactions between them. The results showed that Asian AD patients had the lowest hospitalization rate among all races, and far lower than that of all AD patients:(3116 vs.10126/100,000pop.;z=-52.4,p<.0001). The hospitalization rate of Asian male AD patients was even lower(2,230/100,000pop) than that of Asian female(z=-10.8,p<.0001), making this group the most underserved population. The mortality of Asian AD patients was higher than that of all-race AD patients(z=8.78,p<.0001). This was not true for Asian females indicating a gender-race interaction. The rate of self/charity payer for Asian AD patients was higher than that of all-race AD patients(z=12.7,p<.0001). Future studies on the unique cultural/social barriers for Asian AD patients will be required.