Men Experience More Severe Memory Loss With Age

New findings published in the journal JAMA Neurology show that age-related memory loss appears to be worse in men.

For the study, researchers found that being male was a higher risk factor for memory problems than the APOE?4 gene that's linked to Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers looked at "age, sex and APOE?4 effects on memory and brain structure" by looking at the hippocampal volume and brain plaques (β-amyloidosis) associated with Alzheimer's disease. T

For the study, they included 1,246 cognitively normal study participants between the ages of 30 and 95.

Findings revealed that hippocampal volume gradually declined between the ages of 30 and 65 more steeply after, with median amyloid accumulation tending to be lower until the age of 70. However, it increased after that point, according to study authors.

Furthermore, memory proved to worsen in men more so than women overall, particularly in individuals over the age of 40, while hippocampal volume was typically lower in men than in women.

APOE ?4 carrier status was also not found to have significant influence on memory performance or hippocampal volume in males or females. However APOE?4 carries over the age of 70 were observed to have greater median amyloid accumulation than non-carriers. 

"We believe that this study of typical aging reveals interesting sex and APOE ?4 effects on age-related trends in brain structure, function and [buildup of plaque deposits in the brain]. To date, these effects have not been widely appreciated," the study authors concluded, in a news release. "Our findings are consistent with a model of late-onset AD [Alzheimer disease] in which β-amyloidosis arises later in life on a background of preexisting structural and cognitive decline that is associated with aging and not with β-amyloid deposits."