A new study shows that Black and Hispanic Alzheimer’s patients live longer than those of other races and ethnicities:

Black and Hispanic Alzheimer’s patients live longer than whites, Asian-Americans and American Indians who have the disease, according to a study published online Tuesday in the journal Neurology, HealthDay/U.S. News & World Report reports.

We kind of already knew this. Those very same people turn up around our Thanksgiving table each and every year:

Compared with whites, Hispanics lived about 40% longer and blacks lived about 15% longer (Dunham, Reuters, 11/14). Asian-Americans and American Indians lived about the same amount of time as whites. The findings remained the same even after researchers accounted for possible contributing factors such as age, gender and living environment. Researchers also found that minorities were less likely than whites to die from the disease. The death rate for blacks was 30% and 21% for Hispanics, compared with 41% for whites.

So, let’s see, if you’re a White Hispanic, you can expect to die earlier than a Black Hispanic? Or how does that work? And what about Asian or Indigenous Hispanics? Or those who are mixed? Good golly, we sure wish Rod Wheeler were here to clear all this up.

Kaiser Health Disparities Report: A Weekly Look At Race, Ethnicity And Health [Kaiser Network]