Socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and unexpected variation in dementia classification in longitudinal survey data.

A significant minority of individuals have unexpected patterns of dementia classification over time, particularly individuals with low socioeconomic status and identifying as non-Hispanic Black. Dementia classification uncertainty may make it challenging to activate resources (e.g. healthcare, caregiving) for effective disease management, underscoring the need to support persons from at-risk groups and to carefully evaluate cognitive assessment tools to ensure they are equally reliable across groups to avoid magnifying disparities.