LifeAfter90 study finds dementia risk still varies by sex, race, and APOE after 90

SciTechDaily reported that the LifeAfter90 study found dementia risk after age 90 still varies sharply by sex, race, ethnicity, and genetics, based on work from UC Davis Health and Kaiser Permanente published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity. Since 2018 the study has followed Kaiser Permanente members who enrolled at age 90 or older without dementia, with cognitive evaluations every six months. The latest analysis included medical records from more than 800 participants with a median age of 92 and health histories that in some cases extended back to the 1960s. Women were twice as likely as men to develop dementia. Black participants had a 75% higher risk than Asian participants, and Black and Hispanic participants had significantly higher incidence than white and Asian participants. APOE2 remained strongly protective, with carriers showing a 60% lower risk of dementia. APOE4 did not significantly raise incidence in the full group, but was linked to greater risk among men and nearly doubled risk among Black participants, first author Hilary Colbeth said. Senior author Rachel Whitmer said clinicians cannot assume that people from higher-risk groups who reach 90 without dementia are in the clear. The paper carries DOI: 10.1016/j.lanhl.2026.100882 and was supported by the National Institute on Aging.