Dementia affecting younger persons strikes Hispanics more than previously thought, UT Health San Antonio-led study shows
Posted on: Monday, July 27th, 2026
A new study led by researchers at UT Health San Antonio, the academic health center of The University of Texas at San Antonio suggests that frontotemporal dementia (FTD)—a form of dementia that often affects people under 65—may be more common in Hispanic communities than previously recognized. Researchers found that Hispanic patients were often diagnosed later and with more advanced symptoms, highlighting the need for increased awareness and earlier access to care.
“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,” said A. Campbell Sullivan, PsyD, ABPP-CN, clinical associate professor of neurology with the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio.
She says the study is long overdue to dispel longstanding assumptions that FTD doesn’t occur in Hispanics, but rather significant barriers have delayed timely and accurate diagnosis. Those assumptions themselves have contributed to under-recognition of FTD in those populations, she says.
Sullivan is senior author of the new study titled, “Frontotemporal dementia in Hispanic populations: Regional and national comparisons,” published July 23 by the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring. Other authors include first author Shannon B. Lavigne, PhD, LP, who was a fellow at UT Health San Antonio at the start of the study, and now is an assistant professor and clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, plus several researchers with the Biggs Institute.
The FTD Center at the Biggs Institute, directed by Sullivan and Alicia Parker, MD, an assistant professor, is working to change numbers showing that Hispanic FTD patients are not well-represented in national cohorts. South Texas is well-positioned in that effort, and for the study of neurodegenerative diseases.
Read the full article on the UT Health San Antonio Newsroom to learn how this research could help improve dementia diagnosis and care for Hispanic families.