While research is only beginning to uncover the impact of Alzheimer's disease among Hispanics, what we have learned to date suggests that Hispanics/Latinos face a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias because they are living longer and have higher rates of cardiovascular risk factors.*

• Hispanics are the fastest growing population in the United States. During the first half of the 21st century, the number of Hispanic elders with Alzheimer's and related dementias could increase more than six-fold, from fewer than 200,000 today to as many as 1.3 million by 2050.
  
  
• Latino life expectancy will increase to age 87 by 2050, surpassing all other ethnic groups in the United States.
  
  
• According to a growing body of evidence, risk factors for vascular disease – including diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol – may also be risk factors for Alzheimer's and stroke-related dementia. Latinos in the United States have higher rates of vascular disease, so they may also be at greater risk for developing Alzheimer's.

* Hispanics and Alzheimer's Disease. Alzheimer's Association. May 2004.