On Campus
Rutgers–Newark program aims to combat Alzheimer’s disease in black communities
African Americans twice as likely as whites to develop memory disorders and other dementias
These days Peter Amua-Quarshie, a third-year doctoral student in neuroscience at Rutgers–Newark, spends more time talking about Alzheimer’s disease, aging, and memory fitness with seniors at African-American churches and community centers than in the research lab.
That’s a choice the Ghanaian physician made when he signed on as community coordinator last year with the Newark Healthy Memory and Aging Program. The grassroots initiative, a partnership of the Memory Disorders Project at Rutgers–Newark and the Office of Campus and Community Relations, aims to raise awareness among African–Americans about the warning signs of the Alzheimer’s disease as well as the risk factors and treatment.
“I spent a great deal of my career doing bench work on basic Alzheimer’s research but have become much more interested in the community aspects of the disease,” said Amua-Quarshie, a British-trained physician. “By educating people about what they can do to change health behaviors that may prevent this disease, I feel I can make a greater difference.”
Alzheimer’s disease is a significant public health crisis but even more so among African–Americans, who develop Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia at twice the rate of whites, and earlier in their lives. Blacks are also 40 percent less likely than whites to be properly diagnosed and treated, according to Mark Gluck, co-director of the Memory Disorders Project, based at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience on the Newark Campus. Other groups, such as Latinos and women, are also at heightened risk, compared with society at large.
The Rutgers initiative is part of a national effort – the National African-American Alzheimer’s Disease Health Literacy Program – seeking to change behavioral patterns among economically disadvantaged minority groups. Led by Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, one of the six identified centers in areas with large numbers of elderly black Americans, the program is funded with grants from Pfizer and Forest Laboratories. Other participating sites are the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of South California; the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Chicago; the Indiana Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Indianapolis; and Howard University, Washington, D.C.
Genes play a role in Alzheimer's disease, but the risk due to family history is small, except in cases of early-onset Alzheimer’s (before age 60), Gluck said. Lifestyle and cultural factors seem to be a more important determinant in who will and will not get the disease. Obesity, poor cardiovascular health, infrequent exercise, smoking, and lack of participation in mentally stimulating activities – all prevalent among black Americans – have been linked to Alzheimer's.
The Newark Healthy Aging Program is taking a lead role in developing novel approaches in training and education to help get this message out. The Memory Disorders Project – neuroscientists, psychologists, and other researchers studying how the brain creates and stores memories and memory impairing disorders – publishes a free newsletter, Memory Loss and the Brain. Its most recent issue, “A special report on African-Americans and Alzheimer’s Disease,” is being distributed locally and to 50 sites nationwide, including memory clinics, research centers, doctor's offices, and senior centers. In addition, Rutgers is providing its national partners with several hundred copies each to use in their own programs and events. (You can read the current issue and subscribe to the publication at www.memorylossonline.com.)
In Newark and its surrounding communities, Rutgers’ primary target area, the need for health education is huge. In Essex County, which includes Orange, East Orange, Irvington, and Newark, 12 percent of the population is over age 65; 12 percent live below the poverty threshold; and among people over 65, nearly 30 percent live alone and nearly 10 percent suffer with mental impairment.
The first of three communitywide education events, held on the Newark Campus last fall, was attended by more than 200 seniors and 30 social service staff from African-American communities in and around Newark, said Diane Hill, director of the Office of Campus and Community Relations, responsible for identifying community needs and outreach. (Hill is also co-director of the Newark Healthy Aging Program.)
The Office of Campus and Community Relations also organizes intensive one- and two-day “train the trainer” workshops on memory and aging. Led by Cynthia Green, a neuropsychologist with the Memory Disorders Project, the sessions teach social service professionals how to recognize Alzheimer's disease and to conduct memory fitness classes for their clients. The next “train the trainer” session is scheduled for April 30 on the Newark Campus.
“The Rutgers program is truly a combination of synergies on our campus. It is a great example of how world-class science can have an immediate and direct impact on the residents of a local community,” Gluck said. “The strength of two very different entities – the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience and the Office of Campus and Community Relations – are being leveraged. And the success of the program depends on both.”
Another outreach initiative of the Rutgers program involves small sessions on memory, aging, and African Americans – 45-minute presentations, followed by a question-and-answer session – that take place at local churches, senior facilities, and other community venues in Newark and Union counties. Arranged by Hill’s office and conducted by Amua-Quarashi, the sessions focus on “What African-Americans Can Learn from Africans About Aging, Memory Loss, and Alzheimer’s Disease.”
Research findings show that Alzheimer's disease and other dementias are far less prevalent among the elderly in Western Africa, where the diet is low in fat and high in fiber. In addition to enjoying better health, African elders tend to remain active longer than American-born blacks, staying at home with their families and connected to the younger generation, Amua-Quarashi said. “In Ghana, older people aren’t isolated, their stories play an important role in oral tradition,” he said.
These informal church and community center gatherings have been a success. “We had one in Roselle – and the mayor just loved it,” Hill said. “The next thing I knew, the town of Linden called, asking us to come. Awareness is definitely growing. People are telling each other."