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Educational disparities contribute to health care access, delayed diagnosis
MONDAY, Aug. 3, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Hispanic patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) may receive delayed diagnoses and may report different symptoms than non-Hispanic patients, according to a study published online July 23 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring.
Shannon B. Lavigne, Ph.D., from the Kansas University School of Medicine in Wichita, and colleagues examined clinical manifestations of FTD within a South Texas Hispanic/Latine cohort. Analysis included data from 41 Hispanic participants and 429 non-Hispanic participants.
The researchers found that Hispanic participants presented with more movement-related symptoms and advanced cognitive impairment at diagnosis, compared to non-Hispanic White participants. From symptom onset, diagnostic delays averaged four years. Differences in health care access were in part due to educational disparities.
“The findings underscore diagnostic severity and systemic barriers faced by Hispanic populations with FTD, emphasizing the need for culturally sensitive diagnostic tools and interventions for equitable dementia care,” senior author A. Campbell Sullivan, Psy.D., from UT Health San Antonio, said in a statement.
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