Women And Memory Problems: Alzheimer's Study Suggests Women Deteriorate Faster

New research presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference Tuesday shows that older women with mild memory impairments declined twice as fast as men with the same issues.

The study is based on an analysis of 398 participants dealing with mild cognitive impairment who were enrolled in a national, long-term study called the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), and then followed up for eight years.

The study showed that over the years, women were twice as likely to score significantly lower on cognitive tests than men.

"Our findings suggest that men and women at risk for Alzheimer's may be having two very different experiences," study researcher Katherine Lin, a clinical research scholar of Alzheimer's disease at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, said in a statement. "These results point to the possibility of as-yet-undiscovered gender-specific genetic or environmental risk factors that influence the speed of decline. Uncovering those factors should be a high priority for future research."

A separate study presented Monday at the conference also revealed that women had higher levels than men of the amyloid plaques clumped in the brain, which is thought to be a key contributor of Alzheimer's disease.

Lastly, the study findings also showed that women declined faster than men following surgery under general anesthesia. Though the majority of individuals undergoing surgery have no lasting effects from anesthesia, research has shown that older adults are at a higher risk for long-term cognitive and functional problems following surgery with general anesthesia.

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).