Watchlist: ‘Why Native Americans are facing high rates of mental decline’

By Kamiah Koch

Social media/digital journalist

A 2024 National Institutes of Health study found that 54% of older Native Americans have cognitive impairment which can lead to degenerative diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Just a state line away at the University of Washington School of Medicine, more than 4,000 brains are preserved for studying. According to a PBS NewsHour story published at the end of 2025, reporter Stephanie Sy said that among the thousands of brains in UW’s lab, less than five have been donated from Native Americans.  

Dr. C. Dirk Keene is shown holding a brain as he tells Sy that not having many Native American brains to study makes it difficult to understand what happens to them before they die.

UW Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Director Dr. Thomas Grabowski says Native Americans have higher rates of risk factors that may lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, factors like diabetes, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism and traumatic brain injuries.

In the interview with Grabowski, Sy asks why there isn’t more research into Native Americans’ cognitive decline and the comorbidities that lead to it.

“It’s a collection of communities which are particularly weary of the institutionalized scientific process in the United States,” Grabowski said. “Building trust with the communities is harder and slower, it’s a long process.”

Former Health Director for the Squamish Tribe and Tribal member Linda Holt is shown trying to bridge that gap. Once a year she takes a two-hour journey to UW Medicine to take a series of tests that will examine her cognitive health in ongoing research into Alzheimer’s disease.

“Native Americans are hesitant about volunteering for these types of things and that comes historically from studies that were involuntarily done on Native American people,” Holt said.

The UW program continues to actively recruit Native Americans to participate in researching cognitive health, with the goal of enrolling 100 in the next few years.  

You can watch the rest of the story at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYj-tUB9Qh0.