A researcher at the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center will use a $140,000 grant to study how well a new blood test detects Alzheimer's disease in different ethnic groups.
According to a Monday news release, Dr. Song Yi Park will conduct the study. Park is a professor and co-investigator of the Multiethnic Cohort Study, the largest study of more than 215,000 residents in Hawaiʻi and Los Angeles.
Park said the cohort provides opportunities to better understand common diseases by comparing several racial and ethnic populations.
"Our group reported for the first time that Alzheimer's risk in Native Hawaiians is as high as in African Americans, with almost double the risk seen in Asian Americans and also higher risks than in Latinos and whites," Park said in a news release. "Minority populations have been underrepresented in Alzheimer's research."
The grant came from the Alzheimer's Association, a nonprofit dedicated to funding global research and reducing Alzheimer's and other dementia. The nonprofit invests over $360 million in over 1,000 projects in 53 countries.
Park will examine how well the p-tau217 blood test detects Alzheimer's disease in Native Hawaiians, African Americans and white people. The National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association recently recommended the test for diagnosing the disease.
More than 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease, according to figures from the Alzheimer's Association. By 2050, people with Alzheimer’s are expected to increase by nearly 13 million.
"The only way we will achieve a world without Alzheimer's is through research. Funding Dr. Park not only supports this critical project, but is part of a broader Alzheimer's Association effort to keep the best and brightest scientists working on this disease," Alzheimer's Association Executive Director LJ Duenas said.
