Abstract
Dementia and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are two separate illnesses responsible for high levels of morbidity and mortality within the general US population. Both diseases have differing origins, symptoms, and pathological processes within the human body as dementia is primarily a neurological disease, while COVID-19 is a disease of the respiratory system. Nevertheless, minority racial/ethnic groups within the United States, such as African Americans, face one of the highest burdens of both dementia and COVID-19 due to four specific risk factor categories: (1) unmodifiable risk factors, (2) modifiable risk factors, (3) age-related chronic diseases, and (4) environmental risk factors. Unmodifiable risk factors include increasing age and predisposing genetics. The major modifiable risk factors of concern are low income/socioeconomic status, low educational attainment, lack of exercise, poor diet, and smoking alongside the usage of tobacco products. Additionally, the higher prevalence of age-related chronic diseases such as diabetes, kidney disease, hypercholesterolemia, cardiovascular disease, and chronic lung diseases within the African American community places them at a higher risk for the future development of dementia as well as a fatal COVID-19 infection. Lastly, the African American population within the United States faces additional environmental risk factors, such as social inequalities and lack of access to healthcare, due to pre-existing systematic biases. With African Americans being one of the largest racial/ethnic minority groups with in the United States, this particular chapter will only focus upon the research and statistics associated with dementia and COVID-19 within the African American population of the United States. This chapter will also explore each of the four aforementioned risk factor categories in further detail as they greatly contribute to the development of dementia and COVID-19 within the African American population.
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