The Huffington Post
About 65% of people with dementia are women, according to Alzheimer’s Research UK . We know women live longer than men (about 5% longer on average), and that old age is the number one risk factor for dementia . But Alzheimer’s Research UK said longer life expectancy alone doesn’t explain this disparity. Previously, some research suggested that lower oestrogen during and after menopause, as well as changes to women’s veins as they age, might have contributed to the gap. But a new paper has suggested that “women’s greater risk of dementia may be due to a higher prevalence of multiple risk factors and stronger cognitive effects of risk factors”. What are those risk factors? The paper looked at health data from more than 17,000 adults aged 40+. They looked at how many of 12 of the 14 risk factors listed in The Lancet’s standing commission on dementia each participant had, as well as their sleep quality. They omitted two factors that The Lancet said increased dementia risk – traumatic brain injury and air pollution – from the self-reports, and added poor sleep “because it has been repeatedly recognised as a potential risk factor ... but currently has insufficient evidence to include in their models”. The 13 risk factors they assessed were: years of education, hearing loss, total cholesterol (as a proxy for LDL cholesterol), depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, smoking, hypertension, obesity, excessive alcohol use, social isolation, poor vision, poor sleep. How did women compare to men? In this research, the study authors found that, on average, women “had slightly fewer years of education, elevated total cholesterol, and a higher prevalence of depression, physical inactivity, smoking, poor vision, and poor sleep compared to men”. Men, meanwhile, were generally more likely than women to experience three dementia risk factors: hearing loss, diabetes, and excessive alcohol use. High blood pressure was more complicated. Men aged 40-64 were slightly more likely to have this risk factor, but after 65, women were “significantly” more likely to experience hypertension. “Lastly, there were no sex differences in mean BMI nor in the prevalence of social isolation,” the paper read. The research also found women’s brains might be more strongly affected by some risk factors than men, even if men are likelier to have them. Study co-author Megan Fitzhugh said, “Looking beyond which risk factors are most common, we found that some have a disproportionately larger impact on women’s cognition.” “This suggests that prevention efforts may be more effective if they are tailored not just to risk factor prevalence, but to how strongly each factor affects cognition in women versus men.” Cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors seemed especially likely to raise women’s cognitive risk compared to men. What might that mean? It could mean that “women may be at greater risk of dementia because they experience a greater number of risk factors, and because these risk factors reduce cognition to a greater degree than men,” the study concluded. In other words, a condition that is moderately linked to cognitive decline in men might be much more detrimental to women, despite or alongside different prevalence rates. As a result, “women particularly may want to seek treatments or management for hearing loss, bouts of insomnia, hypertension, diabetes, and excess weight, particularly in midlife and early older adulthood,” the study reads. However, this study doesn’t prove causation; it just establishes a link between women and potential dementia risk factors. Related... Dementia Risk Factors Seem To Have A Sleep Change In Common A Weekly Kitchen Routine Could Slash Over-65s' Dementia Risk Doctors Share 20-Minute Exercise That Can Cut Dementia Risk
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