Mary Lou Rodriguez, who has Alzheimer’s disease, and her husband Arturo Rodriguez have three kids and keep photos of them displayed in many places around their home. San Antonio’s Hispanic majority population is helping researchers at UT Health San Antonio dig deeper into why Hispanic populations have higher risks of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
“Preventative medicine is key,” said Dianne Teran, program manager for the local Alzheimer’s Association. “When we find a cure, we want to make sure it works for everyone, so we try to encourage those studies also should be as diverse as the prevalence. There really should be diversity in those studies and clinical trials.”
Today, an Alzheimer’s diagnosis depends on checking the cerebrospinal fluid, which requires a painful spinal tap, but researchers at the Biggs Institute are looking at other ways to provide definitive diagnosis by less invasive means, Seshadri said: plasma signals in blood tests, the way a person walks and a person’s natural speech.
Another clinical trial is actively recruiting people to study if COVID-19 increases the risk for developing Alzheimer’s. The nonprofit funds 11 research projects out of San Antonio and South Texas that look into nutrition, health and environment.