ABSTRACT
The capacity to perform culturally and linguistically appropriate cognitive assessments is becoming increasingly important given the aging and increasing diversity of the U.S. population. By 2050, 18.7% of the U.S. population will be 65 or older, an increase of 51% over the 12.4 million this age in 2000 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). And, in this same time period, the minority population in the United States will increase to 47% of the total, with Asian and Pacific Islanders being one of the fastest-growing groups (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1999). The number of Asians is expected to triple from 11.2 million in 2000 to 34.4 million in 2050. While information about prevalence of dementia in most Asian minorities in the United States is not available (see chapter 1), in one study (Huang et al., 2003), researchers found nearly 75% of Chinese elders just admitted to a New York City nursing home had significant cognitive impairment.
