View article

Structural racism may drive the constellation of structural determinants that increase racialized disparities in the risk for Alzheimer’s disease related dementias (ADRD). Structural racism via adverse policing increases exposure to negative police encounters that produce heightened vigilance, anxiety, and depressed mood in persons racialized as Black. Seminal research suggests high‐police contact and disparities in Black‐White incarceration are positively associated with risk for other health conditions. It is feasible that cumulative stress from anticipatory and recurrent police encounters disrupts the body’s homeostasis leading to accelerated cognitive aging.

We used US county‐level incarceration data to compute the Black‐White difference in prison and jail rates for US counties between 1995‐2005 (succeeding the 1994 Crime Bill). We then averaged the decade and linked said data by …