Asian and black people who have dementia are not receiving the same quality of health care benefits as their white counterparts in the UK, exposing them to severe forms of mental illness, according to a study released on Monday.

Essential drugs required to deal with the deteriorating mental condition are less likely to be prescribed to Asian people. In the case of black patients, antipsychotic drugs are prescribed to treat dementia-related distress, but medication to cure primary symptoms is not given.

Moreover, these patients are administered distress-related medication for around four weeks longer per year compared to white people in the UK. Even worse, the dose exceeds the recommended limits on the time period of the medication.

The researchers found that both black and Asian people with dementia were prescribed antipsychotic drugs for longer than white patients by 27 and 17 days more respectively, putting them at a higher risk of harmful side effects.

"Our new findings are concerning as they appear to reflect inequalities in the care people receive to treat symptoms associated with dementia," said Claudia Cooper, lead author of the study.

Researchers from the University College of London analyzed data from 53,718 people across the country undergoing dementia diagnosis and 1,648,889 people without dementia, to ascertain racial discrimination faced by various ethnic groups in prescribing the essential medicine.

Asian people with dementia were 14 percent less likely than white patients to be prescribed anti-dementia drugs when they were potentially beneficial and received them for an average of 15 fewer days per year, data revealed.

Ethnic minority groups suffering from the disease face a similar racial disparity in the U.S. and Australia, "but this is the first time the issue has been investigated in a large UK study," researchers said.

A neurodegenerative disease, dementia affects memory and the ability to recognize things and people. More than 50 million people worldwide suffer from the disease, which is caused primarily by aging.

Among ethnic minorities, socioeconomic disadvantages, language and cultural barriers could also contribute to disparities in accessing medication for dementia, researchers added.

(Cover image: The drug company Biogen Inc. says it will seek federal approval for a medicine to treat early Alzheimer's disease, a landmark step toward finding a treatment that can alter the course of the most common form of dementia. /AP Photo)