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Research

Effect of socioeconomic disparities on incidence of dementia among biracial older adults: prospective study

BMJ 2013; 347 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f7051 (Published 19 December 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;347:f7051

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Re: Effect of socioeconomic disparities on incidence of dementia among biracial older adults: prospective study

May I request a definition please? What is bi-racial? Someone with chromosomes from two races (whatever the term race means in the USA)?

The paper mentions black subjects and white subjects in the study. It makes no mention of a mixture, in whatever proportion, of the two categories of chromosomes, in the individuals comprising the population studied.

From my out-dated studies I recall that most Americans blacks have about one tenth European genes. As for "white Americans" of ancient American antecedents, is there a proportion whose grandparents "passed"?

If we are to make some sense of "racial" burden of disease, then we ought to start by answering the three paras above.

Thank you

Competing interests: No competing interests

07 January 2014
JK Anand
Retired doctor
Free spirit
Peterborough

Re: Effect of socioeconomic disparities on incidence of dementia among biracial older adults: prospective study

We found this study very interesting because of its potential impact on the service provisions in developing countries. It also has potential for targeting less advantageous section of the population if we were to prevent dementia.

Competing interests: No competing interests

02 January 2014
Olympia Agalioti
core trainee in Psychiatry
Dr Arun Jha
Hertfordshire Partnership NHS University Foundation Trust
Lambourn Grove, St Albans, Hixberry Lane, AL4 0TZ, Hertfordshire
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